Apr. 29, 2013 ? A gas associated with the smell of rotten eggs has proven to effectively reduce joint swelling, in research which could lead to advances in the treatment of arthritis.
Scientists at the University of Exeter Medical School have discovered that a novel drug molecule, which slowly generates the gas hydrogen sulfide (H2S), effectively reduces swelling and inflammation in arthritic joints.
For years, H2S has been regarded as a highly poisonous by-product which is corrosive, flammable and explosive. But research is now showing an altogether more benign side to the substance.
Professor Matt Whiteman, of the University of Exeter Medical School, said the research, which is published online in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, could pave the way for more effective treatments of arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. Prof Whiteman said: "H2S is widely dismissed as a toxic and foul-smelling environmental pollutant, but it has recently been shown to be created in humans and animals by a specific set of enzymes. Why would the body do this if it had no benefit? Our research has shown that the key to unlocking the therapeutic qualities of H2S is through slow release, mimicking the body's own production."
The team has previously shown that H2S levels were increased by up to four times in the knee joints of patients with joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, but intriguingly the higher H2S levels strongly correlated with a lower number of inflammatory cells in the joint. The latest study provides further evidence that the real role for H2S may be to combat inflammation, swelling and joint destruction.
Prof Whiteman added: "A patient will usually visit their doctor with a joint already inflamed, swollen and painful. Since the compound worked after arthritis was established, it may be useful in treating arthritis in the future. Many compounds can prevent arthritis in the laboratory, but of course nobody knows when they will get arthritis. Having a class of compounds which reduce inflammation and swelling when arthritis is already active is extremely exciting. These molecules may also be useful in other inflammatory conditions, and even in the inflammatory aspects of diabetes and obesity."
The study was part of a large collaboration funded by the Wellcome Trust and Arthritis Research UK, involving Professor Philip K Moore and Dr Julie Keeble from King's College London, as well as researchers at the National University of Singapore and Queen's University Belfast. The team used primary human cells as well as a model of arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis causes some cells to proliferate too quickly in the joint and secrete substances which promote tissue inflammation, swelling and eventually joint destruction. However, the H2S donor molecule prevented this secretion, and inhibited the activity of several enzymes which cause inflation. In the arthritis model, the compound did not prevent arthritis, but was highly effective at reducing joint inflammation and swelling once arthritis was established, suggesting H2S-based compounds may one day be useful in clinic.
The same team has previously found that people who are overweight or have diabetes have lower levels of H2S in their bodies than healthy adults resulting in higher blood pressure, poorer insulin sensitivity and higher levels of sugar in their blood. It has also been reported to promote ulcer healing and reduce lung injury in smokers.
Co-author Dr Mark E Wood, at the University of Exeter, added: "Despite its reputation for being hazardous, H2S could in fact hold the key to solving some of the widespread health problems affecting the country. Our work is a major step in proving that it can be more hero than villain to the human body, providing it is administered in the right way, at the right time. We currently have several more efficient H2S donor molecules being evaluated with collaborators and this is a very exciting time for us."
Dr Julie Keeble, co-author from King's College London, commented: "The finding that H2S is able to reduce joint inflammation in experimental models makes it a very exciting prospect for treating arthritis. Many patients with arthritis do not respond effectively to current treatments or suffer side-effects from their medication. We hope that H2S-releasing drugs like the one tested in this study will be effective in treating arthritis without uncomfortable side effects."
Prof Whiteman is organising the Second European Conference on the Biology of Hydrogen Sulfide at the University of Exeter between September 8 and 11. It will bring together European scientists and participants from across the world to focus on the rapidly expanding and exciting field of H2S biology and medicine.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Exeter.
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Journal Reference:
Ling Li, Bridget Fox, Julie Keeble, Manuel Salto-Tellez, Paul G. Winyard, Mark E. Wood, Philip K. Moore, Matthew Whiteman. The complex effects of the slow-releasing hydrogen sulfide donor GYY4137 in a model of acute joint inflammation and in human cartilage cells. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, 2013; 17 (3): 365 DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.12016
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Inventive: 102 bold new global health ideaswin Grand Challenges Canada fundingPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Terry Collins tc@tca.tc 416-538-8712 Sandra Rotman Centre for Global Health
59 creative, out-of-box health innovations devised in 13 low- and middle-income countries, plus 43 from Canada, share $10.9 million in seed grants and a single goal: Reduce debilitating disease, save lives in developing countries
Grand Challenges Canada, which is funded by the Government of Canada, today announced 102 new grants of $100,000 each for bold new global health ideas. Of these, 59 grants went to innovators in 13 low- and middle-income nations worldwide to pursue bold new imaginative ideas to tackle health problems in resource-poor countries.
Grants of $100,000 each were also announced for 43 Canadian-originated projects to be implemented in a total of 49 countries throughout the developing world.
The full global portfolio of 102 creative, out-of-the-box ideas, selected by independent peer review from 436 applications, include:
An instant test strip to diagnose deadly diseases like Ebola and dengue la litmus paper
A vaccine for smokers against nicotine's addictive effect
A glucose meter cell phone attachment for diabetics
A tool kit to save newborn lives
Engineering gut microbiome bacteria to defend against waterborne diseases like cholera and thyphoid
Teaching old drugs new tricks in the fight against HIV
Saving mothers and children with affordable, needle-free anemia-screening
Using mobile phones to monitor maternal and child health in rural Nepal
* A fast track to safer pesticides via super-computer
Tapping local businesses in Tanzania: Malaria drugs on wheels
Reading ultrasound images of rural patients via cyberspace
and many others.
The Stars in Global Health program seeks breakthrough and affordable innovations that could transform the way disease is treated in the developing world -- innovations that may benefit the health of developed world citizens as well. A total of roughly CDN $10.9 million will support the global portfolio of projects, broken down by region and country as follows (and detailed here: http://bit.ly/11755Fw):
40 projects based in seven African countries (14 in Kenya, 10 in Uganda, seven in Tanzania, three in Ethiopia, and two each in Ghana, Nigeria and Rwanda)
19 projects based in six countries in Asia (10 in India, four in Pakistan, two in Nepal, and one each in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Vietnam)
43 projects based in 16 Canadian cities (12 in Toronto, six in Montreal, three in Saskatoon and Calgary, two in Vancouver, Ottawa, Waterloo, Sudbury, Hamilton, Victoria, and Edmonton, and one in Guelph, London, Kitchener, Winnipeg and Halifax)
The 43 Canadian-based projects will be implemented worldwide:
22 countries in Africa (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe)
17 countries in Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea)
8 countries in South and Latin America (Brazil, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru)
2 countries in the Middle East (Egypt and Jordan). Several projects will be implemented simultaneously in more than one country.
"Our government is focused on what matters most to Canadians -- jobs, growth and long-term prosperity," says Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. "We are pleased to work with our like-minded partners around the world to support global innovation and entrepreneurship that help produce better, brighter futures for people around the world."
"Canada's commitment to bold ideas with big impact is captured in each of these more than 100 peer-reviewed projects," says Dr. Peter A. Singer, CEO of Grand Challenges Canada. "By matching talent with opportunity, Grand Challenges Canada is contributing to saving and improving lives."
If their ideas prove effective, the innovators will be eligible for an additional Grand Challenges Canada scale-up funding of up to $1 million.
Today's grants will advance bold new ideas in remote diagnostics and monitoring, health protection, drug and vaccine development and accessibility, and many others.
Among highlights of grants announced today:
A cheap, instant test strip to diagnose deadly diseases la litmus paper (Canada, Brazil, Uganda)
(project videos: http://bit.ly/XOXa0L and http://bit.ly/XYebrm)
Malaria is the tropics' most widespread infectious disease but #2 is dengue - also transmitted by mosquitos - affecting 50 to 100 million people across 110 countries every year, leading to about 500,000 annual hospitalizations and 25,000 deaths due to fever and shock. Early diagnosis significantly improves chances of survival.
DNA tests on blood samples are reliable but expensive, time-consuming and inaccessible for many -- and patients, mostly children, often resist submitting to needles.
Brazilian-born Dr. Alexandre Brolo of the University of Victoria, Canada, will lead development of a low-cost plastic strip containing gold nanoparticles that, in combination with a hand-held device, will allow for instant, bedside detection of the disease using the patient's saliva, much like a litmus paper test for alkalinity. To be tested in Brazil, the project's target cost per strip is 10 for a penny; cost of the reader, less than $10.
A similar project in Uganda aims to develop a paper-strip test for the rare but deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses that occasionally plague Equatorial Africa. Project leader Dr. Misaki Wayengera of the Makerere University College of Health Sciences notes that the highly infectious nature of both Ebola and Marburg, poor epidemiological data on their origins, and high mortality makes both diseases major global threats. Hard to detect in early days of an outbreak in communities where quarantine criteria are poor, the diseases present a danger to all, especially health workers.
A vaccine for smokers against nicotine's addictive effect (Canada, Vietnam)
(video: http://bit.ly/11trSf0)
Tobacco products are the main cause of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and reproductive disorders, as well as nearly 6 million premature deaths annually. Treating tobacco and cigarette-related illness and disease places a huge burden on the global health-care system. Young people in developing countries constitute a disproportionate percentage of the world's more than 1 billion smokers.
Led by Hoang-Thanh Le of the Advanced Medical Research Institute of Canada, the affiliated research institute of Health Sciences North in Sudbury, Canada, researchers believe they have developed a way to reduce nicotine use and its related health effects: a vaccine administered via the nose.
The team has been working with a nicotine-derived compound administered via the nose that prevents inhaled nicotine from reaching the brain via the blood stream, thereby robbing nicotine of its potent and addictive effect. The researchers envision the technology deployed eventually against other addictions and diseases as well.
In tests to be conducted early next year in mice, and in collaboration with a Pasteur institute in Vietnam, researchers anticipate a 90% or greater reduction of blood stream nicotine reaching the brains of test animals.
Teaching old drugs new tricks in the fight against HIV (Uganda)
(video: http://bit.ly/15vmNb6)
Led by Dr. David Meya of Uganda's Infectious Disease Institute at Makerere University's College of Health Sciences researchers will test whether the addition of an off-patent antidepressant drug called sertraline to standard therapy will reduce the rate of early death from cryptococcal meningitis. The hope is based on sertraline's potent fungicidal effect documented in lab work.
In Africa, deaths caused by cryptococcal meningitis (CM) rivals tuberculosis. While survival rates have improved, more than 30% of patients die early -- within 10-weeks of onset.
Existing pharmaceutical and safety data already exist for sertraline, streamlining its potential new deployment against CM.
Saving mothers and children with affordable, needle-free anemia-screening (India, Canada, Egypt)
(video: http://bit.ly/ZH9j4c and http://bit.ly/11rXFyk)
Anemia -- low red blood cell counts due to childbirth and inadequate nutrition -- affects 1.6 billion people worldwide and causes more than 1 million deaths a year. Most patients are in the developing world, especially Africa and South Asia. Anemia's cures are well known, simple, inexpensive and widely available -- the problem is timely detection, regular monitoring and compliance with treatment.
In many low resource settings today, where standard $10,000+ lab machines operated by highly-skilled technicians are days away, testing often consists of drawing blood into a test tube, mixing it with acid and distilled water and assessing its color. Needed is the empowerment of village health workers with an effective, low-cost tool.
Researchers in India, led by Dr. Myshkin Ingawale of Biosense Technologies will provide social health activists with a simple, needle-free, hand-held, battery-operated device, called "ToucHb." Attached to a finger, it can determine in 20 seconds the patient's haemoglobin, oxygen saturation and heart rate -- a simple test at the patient's doorstep involving no needles or pain.
The project's goal is to have within 18 months a model of the device ready to scale with the help of governments and NGOs.
Another project in Canada and Egypt is also focused on blood cell counts, a basic indicator of cardiovascular disease, blood disorders or infection, leukemia (~3 million cases annually), malaria (~200M cases) and tuberculosis (~9M cases).
Making fast, affordable (~10 cents per test) blood tests widely available in developing countries is the aim of a team in Toronto and Egypt led by University of Toronto Professor Yu Sun. Among project ambitions: low-cost, easy to use and disposable. Test results will be verified against commercial hematology analyzers.
Using mobile phones to monitor maternal and child health in rural Nepal
(video: http://bit.ly/12xABPU)
In much of South Asia, public sector health care is of low quality and hard to access, leaving many poor people at the mercy of unregulated, relatively expensive private sector providers.
Harvard researcher Duncan Maru, MD, PhD and a team of rural practitioners from an organization he created, Nyaya Health, are creating a mobile phone system for remote, rural community health workers to upload and publish data on both illness and local public health care capacity. Project partners include technology NGOs MedicMobile and HealthMap.
Being undertaken in Nepal's mountainous rural Achham district northwest of Kathmandu, the project represents the first real-time surveillance system of available care services and relates it to health outcomes (maternal and child health conditions).
Data is being collected on children under five years old suffering diarrhoea, acute respiratory tract infections, acute malnutrition, newborns and post-partum women. Also being gathered weekly is data from each public sector clinic on staffing, water and electricity supplies, and relevant medicines.
After this feasibility and validation study, the project will explore how such data can be used at national levels for more effective health programming and response to evolving health needs.
Reading ultrasound images of rural patients via cyberspace (India, Uganda)
(video: http://bit.ly/13p0fVS and http://bit.ly/15vpwBC and http://bit.ly/10rD5kS)
Ultrasound technology, perhaps most familiar for its use in fetal imaging, is an essential diagnostic tool in many emergency situations but unavailable to 70 percent of patients in need worldwide. Ultrasound machines are now portable, however, and can be used to diagnose a wide range of disease conditions, including breast cancer, even in the most remote locations.
Sanjoe Jose and colleagues at Emprenure Labs, India, are aiming to take ultrasound technology to a new level of portability with an probe connected to a mobile smartphone from which images are uploaded through cellular networks to a cloud server for remote expert interpretation. The system would provide real time images and low-cost probable diagnoses to end users anywhere in the world.
The requirement for heavy duty processors used in expensive western systems would be eliminated through the use of cloud computing. Trials will be run in 10 remote health clinics with units linked to an expert sonographer and radiologist.
Meanwhile, low-cost, easy-to-perform ultrasound scans to detect early cancer will improve survival prospects for many women in rural Uganda, where the 5-year survival rate for a late stage breast cancer case is 39% compared to 74% for early stage.
A grant to Imaging the World (ITW) and led by Ugandan Dr. Alphonsus Matovu, aims to bring ultrasound training, technology and telemedicine to rural parts of low income countries, promising cost-effective, sustainable breast cancer detection and remote diagnosis and greater breast cancer awareness.
ITW will train frontline health workers with limited knowledge of anatomy or pathology to generate ultrasound images using low-cost, low-power machines and send them via local cellular telephone networks to the Internet for remote expert interpretation. Findings and recommendations are sent back to the rural clinics as text messages or emails -- a model successfully developed and tested for obstetric ultrasound imaging in rural Uganda, with implementation at 11 different healthcare facilities.
Also tapping into the new power of cellular telephone networks to improve health, a team led by Dr. Ash Parameswaran of Canada's Simon Fraser University in Burnaby is developing a portable, low-cost (target: less than $5) instrument that can be fitted to any cell phone to quickly identify the correct antibiotic to effectively treat infantile diarrhea in remote areas. Even with access to powerful antibiotics, many infants in developing countries die due to an inability to determine the right drug at the right time.
Portable, mosquito-free huts to protect itinerant African rice farmers (Tanzania)
(video: http://bit.ly/XOXAUL)
Every year, thousands of subsistence rice farmers in rural Africa spends months away from home cultivating rice in distant river valleys far from health facilities, bringing along young children and infants. They live in semi-open shacks that can't be readily fitted with bednets, exposing them to as many as 350 infectious insect bites yearly. Among these families, malaria prevalence can reach 40%.
A project led by Dr. Fredros Okumu of the Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania, will manufacture and promote a portable, low-cost mosquito-proof hut for use in remote settings, an innovation that, he says, could eliminate 50-90% of transmission and help break a vicious cycle of poverty and disease.
The low-cost, lightweight, highly ventilated huts will be easy to transport, accommodate an average itinerant family, and paid for in cash or produce (equivalent to about 5% of an average family's rice production). Hut production will be localized to help lift village economies.
A fast track to safer pesticides via super-computer (Canada, Philippines)
(video: http://bit.ly/11tq7ji and http://bit.ly/XYdGh3)
Pesticides are essential to agriculture but they poison an estimated 26 million people every year, causing 220,000 deaths and countless cancers, birth defects and other health problems.
That's an unacceptable hidden cost of food that could be slashed via breakthrough technology being developed by Chematria, a start-up Canadian company.
Using massive computer databases, the scientists say they can now create millions of virtual compounds and predict both their toxicity to people and the efficacy of the pesticides early in development, well before experimental tests involving human impacts. The innovation will also help reduce pesticide costs by narrowing chemical choices and shortening development time.
Says project leader Izhar Wallach (whose work is partnered with Dr. Marlon Manalo from the University of Philippines Los Banos): "We will screen for safety and efficacy the tens of millions of compound structures available in our chemical databases, rather than the hundreds of thousands of compounds typically investigated in experimental pesticide screens. Dr. Manalo will experimentally validate the most promising candidates and will lead small-scale field experiments. Within 18 months, we will have proposed a number of compounds to our collaborator for further development."
The Toronto innovators will also use the same super-computer techniques to identify potential new uses for existing drugs and chemical combinations in hopes of repurposing some of them to treat malaria and, one day, the more than 6,000 neglected diseases in resource-poor countries.
Dr. Wallach notes that historically discoveries of alternative uses for drugs have been more serendipitous than systematic. But there are many examples. The antihistamine astemizole, for one, proved effective against malaria while Viagra was first intended as a hypertension drug.
"All medicines have side-effects, but sometimes those effects are beneficial: People take aspirin for headaches, but they also take aspirin to prevent heart disease. We want to uncover those beneficial uses, " he says.
A survey of 30 pharmaceutical firms estimated the cost to develop a new drug at $1.3 billion over 10 to 15 years; to repurpose a previously approved drug for a new use: $8.4 million over 3 to 5 years.
Saving precious crops with eco-friendly "pesticidal plants" (Tanzania)
(video: http://bit.ly/ZdLdCy)
Pests destroy up to 40% of African grain crops, compounding rising problems due by inadequate and changing rainfall patterns. About 30% of stored maize -- the crop grown by 77% of farmers -- is lost due to maize weevils infestation.
Led by Basiliana Emidi of Tanzania's National Institute for Medical Research, researchers are testing a natural, eco-friendly product made from a combination of "pesticidal plants" -- their recipe having been shown in tests to destroy maize weevils and inhibit the growth of a toxin-producing fungi.
Within 18 months, the project aims to answer food security and nutrition questions, as well as community acceptability of the dual pesticide -- a product with a large potential market.
Bringing education into focus in Vietnam
(video: http://bit.ly/11tstxt)
The World Health Organization estimates 158 million people worldwide are visually impaired or disabled (including 8.7 million people who are blind) due to uncorrected refractive errors (e.g., myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism). Of that total, about 62 million reside in the Asia-Pacific region. And much of the problem could be prevented with increased awareness and access to affordable services.
Eye health among schoolchildren is a neglected issue in Vietnam. One in five Vietnamese children suffers from refractive error, yet the vast majority remain undiagnosed and untreated due to a lack of coordinated efforts between the health and education sectors.
Led by Ngoc Pham of Helen Keller International, the ChildSight Vietnam project will enhance and expand efforts to improve the vision of schoolchildren in partnership with private optic shops in Kon Tum Province.
At least 10,000 kids - roughly 10% of all schoolchildren in Kon Tum -- will be screened and a qualified optic shop network will be established throughout the province to ensure children receive quality eyeglasses.
Addressing the rising toll of deadly road accidents in developing countries (Nepal, Kenya)
(video: http://bit.ly/XYdNco and http://bit.ly/ZBHkHm)
In Nepal, more then 9,000 people have died and almost 20,000 were seriously injured in 54,000 traffic crashes in the past 10 years. Among the goals of project led by Pitambar Aryal of Nepal's Integrated Community Development Movement: creating roadside response teams to provide more timely first aid and search and rescue services, and promote helmet and seatbelt use.
In Kenya, meanwhile, motorcycles sales have surged and road crashes are now the 3rd leading cause of death after malaria and HIV/AIDS. The 'Reward N Conquer" project led by Kenyan Pamela Muthuuri will use mobile phone apps to promote helmet use and road safety.
Changing the sanitation script in the slums of Nairobi and Kampala (Kenya, Uganda)
(video: http://bit.ly/ZBHpdS and http://bit.ly/YDCJkH)
The film Slumdog Millionaire included vivid scenes of outdoor community pit latrines in Mumbai's wretched slums, which are common also in Kenya's large slums, as is the "flying toilet" -- human waste thrown outside in a bag. Joy Kiruki and brother Patrick Kiruki of Kenya hopes to change the script for the poor in Kenya's urban metropolis, installing up to 500 novel in-home toilets that allow users to hygienically dispose of human waste in privacy. Waste is collected in a compostable bag stored odor-free in the toilet. The system includes collection services together with health and sanitation education.
In Uganda, meanwhile, almost all human waste is discharged into bodies of water causing huge health problems. Researchers led by Dr. Corinne Schuster-Wallace of UN University's Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health, will initiate the first steps in a proposed national program to collect and transform human and other waste into an energy and revenue-producing bio-gas. Supported by Canadian firms Anaergia Inc. (Ontario) and Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc. (British Columbia) eventual implementation will involve large underground tanks to mulch human waste along with fish market refuse and other organic trash. Methane from the tanks will be tapped for a new economical source of fuel. A recent study concluded that a sanitation system for 400,000 people in Kampala's urban slums can be run without subsidies by marketing wastewater products.
A mobile phone game and text messages to raise awareness of HIV's dangers (Kenya)
(video: http://bit.ly/11daydZ and http://bit.ly/17EGpGB)
A game-based approach to improving health will be tested in Kenya led by researcher Pam Muthuuri: a mobile phone role-playing game will raise awareness about HIV's dangers among girls and anticipate propositions from "sugar daddies." A complementary project, led by Dr. Njambi Njuguna of Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya, will send with HIV-related mobile phone text messages to young females, many of whom do not perceive themselves to be at risk and thus don't test. In Kenya, 84% of HIV-infected people are unaware of their status with 33% not testing because they don't perceive a risk to themselves.
Help for those caring for children with Africa's "nodding disease" (Uganda)
(video: http://bit.ly/14GL3YW)
Thousands of East African children aged 5 to 15 suffer from a mysterious, deadly affliction called "nodding disease," characterized by stunted physical and mental growth, as well as severe nodding or epileptic-like seizures or frozen motion most often brought on when the child eats or feels cold.
Helping the children by addressing the heavy toll on caregivers is the focus of a project headed by Dr. Byamah Mutamba of the National Referral Mental Hospital, Uganda. His aim is to "improve care through reducing adverse methods (e.g. physical restraints like tying them up on trees), improve help seeking, medication adherence, reduced stigma and discrimination and school (re)attendance. Using a lay-health worker led intervention will allow for culture appropriateness, improve access and utilization of health services."
Tapping local businesses: Malaria drugs on wheels (Tanzania)
(video: http://bit.ly/12xBtUC)
Over 90% of malaria deaths are children, of which 80% reside in rural areas.
Led by Daudi Simba of Tanzania's Muhimbili University, researchers will work to take advantage of a recent surge in motorcycle popularity in East Africa, putting them to work delivering anti-malaria drugs.
The project predicts that motorcycle deliveries will create near universal access (>80%) to effective malaria treatment in the test area 300 km west of Dar es Salaam, where about one-third of the 500,000 residents survive on less than $1 a day.
###
Other projects include:
A diabetes glucose meter cell phone attachment (http://bit.ly/13LDu2f)
A tool kit to save newborn lives (http://bit.ly/10to2qL)
Engineering gut microbiome bacteria to defend against waterborne diseases like cholera and thyphoid (http://bit.ly/17RHlud)
For a complete listing of projects by city and country, and more information on all grants, including short videos on each project, please visit grandchallenges.ca
To date, Grand Challenges Canada has funded 270 projects around the world. There have already been 451 applications in 40 different countries for the next (5th) round of funding under the GCC Stars in Global Health programme.
Grand Challenges Canada is funded by the Government of Canada through the Development
Innovation Fund announced in the 2008 Federal Budget.
Please visit grandchallenges.ca and look for us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.
About Grand Challenges Canada
Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting bold ideas with big impact in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada through the Development Innovation Fund announced in the 2008 Federal Budget. We fund innovators in low and middle income countries and Canada. Grand Challenges Canada works with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and other global health foundations and organizations to find sustainable long-term solutions through integrated innovation - bold ideas which integrate science, technology, social and business innovation. Grand Challenges Canada is hosted at the Sandra Rotman Centre.
grandchallenges.ca
About Canada's International Development Research Centre
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) supports research in developing countries to promote growth and development. IDRC also encourages sharing this knowledge with policymakers, other researchers and communities around the world. The result is innovative, lasting local solutions that aim to bring choice and change to those who need it most.
As the Government of Canada's lead on the Development Innovation Fund, IDRC draws on decades of experience managing publicly funded research projects to administer the Development Innovation Fund. IDRC also ensures that developing country researchers and concerns are front and centre in this exciting new initiative.
idrc.ca
About Canadian Institutes of Health Research
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's health research investment agency. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 14,100 health researchers and trainees across Canada.
CIHR will be responsible for the administration of international peer review, according to international standards of excellence. The results of CIHR-led peer reviews will guide the awarding of grants by Grand Challenges Canada from the Development Innovation Fund.
cihr-irsc.gc.ca
About Sandra Rotman Centre
The Sandra Rotman Centre is based at University Health Network and University of Toronto. We develop innovative global health solutions and help bring them to scale where they are most urgently needed. The Sandra Rotman Centre hosts Grand Challenges Canada.
srcglobal.org
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Inventive: 102 bold new global health ideaswin Grand Challenges Canada fundingPublic release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Terry Collins tc@tca.tc 416-538-8712 Sandra Rotman Centre for Global Health
59 creative, out-of-box health innovations devised in 13 low- and middle-income countries, plus 43 from Canada, share $10.9 million in seed grants and a single goal: Reduce debilitating disease, save lives in developing countries
Grand Challenges Canada, which is funded by the Government of Canada, today announced 102 new grants of $100,000 each for bold new global health ideas. Of these, 59 grants went to innovators in 13 low- and middle-income nations worldwide to pursue bold new imaginative ideas to tackle health problems in resource-poor countries.
Grants of $100,000 each were also announced for 43 Canadian-originated projects to be implemented in a total of 49 countries throughout the developing world.
The full global portfolio of 102 creative, out-of-the-box ideas, selected by independent peer review from 436 applications, include:
An instant test strip to diagnose deadly diseases like Ebola and dengue la litmus paper
A vaccine for smokers against nicotine's addictive effect
A glucose meter cell phone attachment for diabetics
A tool kit to save newborn lives
Engineering gut microbiome bacteria to defend against waterborne diseases like cholera and thyphoid
Teaching old drugs new tricks in the fight against HIV
Saving mothers and children with affordable, needle-free anemia-screening
Using mobile phones to monitor maternal and child health in rural Nepal
* A fast track to safer pesticides via super-computer
Tapping local businesses in Tanzania: Malaria drugs on wheels
Reading ultrasound images of rural patients via cyberspace
and many others.
The Stars in Global Health program seeks breakthrough and affordable innovations that could transform the way disease is treated in the developing world -- innovations that may benefit the health of developed world citizens as well. A total of roughly CDN $10.9 million will support the global portfolio of projects, broken down by region and country as follows (and detailed here: http://bit.ly/11755Fw):
40 projects based in seven African countries (14 in Kenya, 10 in Uganda, seven in Tanzania, three in Ethiopia, and two each in Ghana, Nigeria and Rwanda)
19 projects based in six countries in Asia (10 in India, four in Pakistan, two in Nepal, and one each in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Vietnam)
43 projects based in 16 Canadian cities (12 in Toronto, six in Montreal, three in Saskatoon and Calgary, two in Vancouver, Ottawa, Waterloo, Sudbury, Hamilton, Victoria, and Edmonton, and one in Guelph, London, Kitchener, Winnipeg and Halifax)
The 43 Canadian-based projects will be implemented worldwide:
22 countries in Africa (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe)
17 countries in Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea)
8 countries in South and Latin America (Brazil, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru)
2 countries in the Middle East (Egypt and Jordan). Several projects will be implemented simultaneously in more than one country.
"Our government is focused on what matters most to Canadians -- jobs, growth and long-term prosperity," says Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. "We are pleased to work with our like-minded partners around the world to support global innovation and entrepreneurship that help produce better, brighter futures for people around the world."
"Canada's commitment to bold ideas with big impact is captured in each of these more than 100 peer-reviewed projects," says Dr. Peter A. Singer, CEO of Grand Challenges Canada. "By matching talent with opportunity, Grand Challenges Canada is contributing to saving and improving lives."
If their ideas prove effective, the innovators will be eligible for an additional Grand Challenges Canada scale-up funding of up to $1 million.
Today's grants will advance bold new ideas in remote diagnostics and monitoring, health protection, drug and vaccine development and accessibility, and many others.
Among highlights of grants announced today:
A cheap, instant test strip to diagnose deadly diseases la litmus paper (Canada, Brazil, Uganda)
(project videos: http://bit.ly/XOXa0L and http://bit.ly/XYebrm)
Malaria is the tropics' most widespread infectious disease but #2 is dengue - also transmitted by mosquitos - affecting 50 to 100 million people across 110 countries every year, leading to about 500,000 annual hospitalizations and 25,000 deaths due to fever and shock. Early diagnosis significantly improves chances of survival.
DNA tests on blood samples are reliable but expensive, time-consuming and inaccessible for many -- and patients, mostly children, often resist submitting to needles.
Brazilian-born Dr. Alexandre Brolo of the University of Victoria, Canada, will lead development of a low-cost plastic strip containing gold nanoparticles that, in combination with a hand-held device, will allow for instant, bedside detection of the disease using the patient's saliva, much like a litmus paper test for alkalinity. To be tested in Brazil, the project's target cost per strip is 10 for a penny; cost of the reader, less than $10.
A similar project in Uganda aims to develop a paper-strip test for the rare but deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses that occasionally plague Equatorial Africa. Project leader Dr. Misaki Wayengera of the Makerere University College of Health Sciences notes that the highly infectious nature of both Ebola and Marburg, poor epidemiological data on their origins, and high mortality makes both diseases major global threats. Hard to detect in early days of an outbreak in communities where quarantine criteria are poor, the diseases present a danger to all, especially health workers.
A vaccine for smokers against nicotine's addictive effect (Canada, Vietnam)
(video: http://bit.ly/11trSf0)
Tobacco products are the main cause of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and reproductive disorders, as well as nearly 6 million premature deaths annually. Treating tobacco and cigarette-related illness and disease places a huge burden on the global health-care system. Young people in developing countries constitute a disproportionate percentage of the world's more than 1 billion smokers.
Led by Hoang-Thanh Le of the Advanced Medical Research Institute of Canada, the affiliated research institute of Health Sciences North in Sudbury, Canada, researchers believe they have developed a way to reduce nicotine use and its related health effects: a vaccine administered via the nose.
The team has been working with a nicotine-derived compound administered via the nose that prevents inhaled nicotine from reaching the brain via the blood stream, thereby robbing nicotine of its potent and addictive effect. The researchers envision the technology deployed eventually against other addictions and diseases as well.
In tests to be conducted early next year in mice, and in collaboration with a Pasteur institute in Vietnam, researchers anticipate a 90% or greater reduction of blood stream nicotine reaching the brains of test animals.
Teaching old drugs new tricks in the fight against HIV (Uganda)
(video: http://bit.ly/15vmNb6)
Led by Dr. David Meya of Uganda's Infectious Disease Institute at Makerere University's College of Health Sciences researchers will test whether the addition of an off-patent antidepressant drug called sertraline to standard therapy will reduce the rate of early death from cryptococcal meningitis. The hope is based on sertraline's potent fungicidal effect documented in lab work.
In Africa, deaths caused by cryptococcal meningitis (CM) rivals tuberculosis. While survival rates have improved, more than 30% of patients die early -- within 10-weeks of onset.
Existing pharmaceutical and safety data already exist for sertraline, streamlining its potential new deployment against CM.
Saving mothers and children with affordable, needle-free anemia-screening (India, Canada, Egypt)
(video: http://bit.ly/ZH9j4c and http://bit.ly/11rXFyk)
Anemia -- low red blood cell counts due to childbirth and inadequate nutrition -- affects 1.6 billion people worldwide and causes more than 1 million deaths a year. Most patients are in the developing world, especially Africa and South Asia. Anemia's cures are well known, simple, inexpensive and widely available -- the problem is timely detection, regular monitoring and compliance with treatment.
In many low resource settings today, where standard $10,000+ lab machines operated by highly-skilled technicians are days away, testing often consists of drawing blood into a test tube, mixing it with acid and distilled water and assessing its color. Needed is the empowerment of village health workers with an effective, low-cost tool.
Researchers in India, led by Dr. Myshkin Ingawale of Biosense Technologies will provide social health activists with a simple, needle-free, hand-held, battery-operated device, called "ToucHb." Attached to a finger, it can determine in 20 seconds the patient's haemoglobin, oxygen saturation and heart rate -- a simple test at the patient's doorstep involving no needles or pain.
The project's goal is to have within 18 months a model of the device ready to scale with the help of governments and NGOs.
Another project in Canada and Egypt is also focused on blood cell counts, a basic indicator of cardiovascular disease, blood disorders or infection, leukemia (~3 million cases annually), malaria (~200M cases) and tuberculosis (~9M cases).
Making fast, affordable (~10 cents per test) blood tests widely available in developing countries is the aim of a team in Toronto and Egypt led by University of Toronto Professor Yu Sun. Among project ambitions: low-cost, easy to use and disposable. Test results will be verified against commercial hematology analyzers.
Using mobile phones to monitor maternal and child health in rural Nepal
(video: http://bit.ly/12xABPU)
In much of South Asia, public sector health care is of low quality and hard to access, leaving many poor people at the mercy of unregulated, relatively expensive private sector providers.
Harvard researcher Duncan Maru, MD, PhD and a team of rural practitioners from an organization he created, Nyaya Health, are creating a mobile phone system for remote, rural community health workers to upload and publish data on both illness and local public health care capacity. Project partners include technology NGOs MedicMobile and HealthMap.
Being undertaken in Nepal's mountainous rural Achham district northwest of Kathmandu, the project represents the first real-time surveillance system of available care services and relates it to health outcomes (maternal and child health conditions).
Data is being collected on children under five years old suffering diarrhoea, acute respiratory tract infections, acute malnutrition, newborns and post-partum women. Also being gathered weekly is data from each public sector clinic on staffing, water and electricity supplies, and relevant medicines.
After this feasibility and validation study, the project will explore how such data can be used at national levels for more effective health programming and response to evolving health needs.
Reading ultrasound images of rural patients via cyberspace (India, Uganda)
(video: http://bit.ly/13p0fVS and http://bit.ly/15vpwBC and http://bit.ly/10rD5kS)
Ultrasound technology, perhaps most familiar for its use in fetal imaging, is an essential diagnostic tool in many emergency situations but unavailable to 70 percent of patients in need worldwide. Ultrasound machines are now portable, however, and can be used to diagnose a wide range of disease conditions, including breast cancer, even in the most remote locations.
Sanjoe Jose and colleagues at Emprenure Labs, India, are aiming to take ultrasound technology to a new level of portability with an probe connected to a mobile smartphone from which images are uploaded through cellular networks to a cloud server for remote expert interpretation. The system would provide real time images and low-cost probable diagnoses to end users anywhere in the world.
The requirement for heavy duty processors used in expensive western systems would be eliminated through the use of cloud computing. Trials will be run in 10 remote health clinics with units linked to an expert sonographer and radiologist.
Meanwhile, low-cost, easy-to-perform ultrasound scans to detect early cancer will improve survival prospects for many women in rural Uganda, where the 5-year survival rate for a late stage breast cancer case is 39% compared to 74% for early stage.
A grant to Imaging the World (ITW) and led by Ugandan Dr. Alphonsus Matovu, aims to bring ultrasound training, technology and telemedicine to rural parts of low income countries, promising cost-effective, sustainable breast cancer detection and remote diagnosis and greater breast cancer awareness.
ITW will train frontline health workers with limited knowledge of anatomy or pathology to generate ultrasound images using low-cost, low-power machines and send them via local cellular telephone networks to the Internet for remote expert interpretation. Findings and recommendations are sent back to the rural clinics as text messages or emails -- a model successfully developed and tested for obstetric ultrasound imaging in rural Uganda, with implementation at 11 different healthcare facilities.
Also tapping into the new power of cellular telephone networks to improve health, a team led by Dr. Ash Parameswaran of Canada's Simon Fraser University in Burnaby is developing a portable, low-cost (target: less than $5) instrument that can be fitted to any cell phone to quickly identify the correct antibiotic to effectively treat infantile diarrhea in remote areas. Even with access to powerful antibiotics, many infants in developing countries die due to an inability to determine the right drug at the right time.
Portable, mosquito-free huts to protect itinerant African rice farmers (Tanzania)
(video: http://bit.ly/XOXAUL)
Every year, thousands of subsistence rice farmers in rural Africa spends months away from home cultivating rice in distant river valleys far from health facilities, bringing along young children and infants. They live in semi-open shacks that can't be readily fitted with bednets, exposing them to as many as 350 infectious insect bites yearly. Among these families, malaria prevalence can reach 40%.
A project led by Dr. Fredros Okumu of the Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania, will manufacture and promote a portable, low-cost mosquito-proof hut for use in remote settings, an innovation that, he says, could eliminate 50-90% of transmission and help break a vicious cycle of poverty and disease.
The low-cost, lightweight, highly ventilated huts will be easy to transport, accommodate an average itinerant family, and paid for in cash or produce (equivalent to about 5% of an average family's rice production). Hut production will be localized to help lift village economies.
A fast track to safer pesticides via super-computer (Canada, Philippines)
(video: http://bit.ly/11tq7ji and http://bit.ly/XYdGh3)
Pesticides are essential to agriculture but they poison an estimated 26 million people every year, causing 220,000 deaths and countless cancers, birth defects and other health problems.
That's an unacceptable hidden cost of food that could be slashed via breakthrough technology being developed by Chematria, a start-up Canadian company.
Using massive computer databases, the scientists say they can now create millions of virtual compounds and predict both their toxicity to people and the efficacy of the pesticides early in development, well before experimental tests involving human impacts. The innovation will also help reduce pesticide costs by narrowing chemical choices and shortening development time.
Says project leader Izhar Wallach (whose work is partnered with Dr. Marlon Manalo from the University of Philippines Los Banos): "We will screen for safety and efficacy the tens of millions of compound structures available in our chemical databases, rather than the hundreds of thousands of compounds typically investigated in experimental pesticide screens. Dr. Manalo will experimentally validate the most promising candidates and will lead small-scale field experiments. Within 18 months, we will have proposed a number of compounds to our collaborator for further development."
The Toronto innovators will also use the same super-computer techniques to identify potential new uses for existing drugs and chemical combinations in hopes of repurposing some of them to treat malaria and, one day, the more than 6,000 neglected diseases in resource-poor countries.
Dr. Wallach notes that historically discoveries of alternative uses for drugs have been more serendipitous than systematic. But there are many examples. The antihistamine astemizole, for one, proved effective against malaria while Viagra was first intended as a hypertension drug.
"All medicines have side-effects, but sometimes those effects are beneficial: People take aspirin for headaches, but they also take aspirin to prevent heart disease. We want to uncover those beneficial uses, " he says.
A survey of 30 pharmaceutical firms estimated the cost to develop a new drug at $1.3 billion over 10 to 15 years; to repurpose a previously approved drug for a new use: $8.4 million over 3 to 5 years.
Saving precious crops with eco-friendly "pesticidal plants" (Tanzania)
(video: http://bit.ly/ZdLdCy)
Pests destroy up to 40% of African grain crops, compounding rising problems due by inadequate and changing rainfall patterns. About 30% of stored maize -- the crop grown by 77% of farmers -- is lost due to maize weevils infestation.
Led by Basiliana Emidi of Tanzania's National Institute for Medical Research, researchers are testing a natural, eco-friendly product made from a combination of "pesticidal plants" -- their recipe having been shown in tests to destroy maize weevils and inhibit the growth of a toxin-producing fungi.
Within 18 months, the project aims to answer food security and nutrition questions, as well as community acceptability of the dual pesticide -- a product with a large potential market.
Bringing education into focus in Vietnam
(video: http://bit.ly/11tstxt)
The World Health Organization estimates 158 million people worldwide are visually impaired or disabled (including 8.7 million people who are blind) due to uncorrected refractive errors (e.g., myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism). Of that total, about 62 million reside in the Asia-Pacific region. And much of the problem could be prevented with increased awareness and access to affordable services.
Eye health among schoolchildren is a neglected issue in Vietnam. One in five Vietnamese children suffers from refractive error, yet the vast majority remain undiagnosed and untreated due to a lack of coordinated efforts between the health and education sectors.
Led by Ngoc Pham of Helen Keller International, the ChildSight Vietnam project will enhance and expand efforts to improve the vision of schoolchildren in partnership with private optic shops in Kon Tum Province.
At least 10,000 kids - roughly 10% of all schoolchildren in Kon Tum -- will be screened and a qualified optic shop network will be established throughout the province to ensure children receive quality eyeglasses.
Addressing the rising toll of deadly road accidents in developing countries (Nepal, Kenya)
(video: http://bit.ly/XYdNco and http://bit.ly/ZBHkHm)
In Nepal, more then 9,000 people have died and almost 20,000 were seriously injured in 54,000 traffic crashes in the past 10 years. Among the goals of project led by Pitambar Aryal of Nepal's Integrated Community Development Movement: creating roadside response teams to provide more timely first aid and search and rescue services, and promote helmet and seatbelt use.
In Kenya, meanwhile, motorcycles sales have surged and road crashes are now the 3rd leading cause of death after malaria and HIV/AIDS. The 'Reward N Conquer" project led by Kenyan Pamela Muthuuri will use mobile phone apps to promote helmet use and road safety.
Changing the sanitation script in the slums of Nairobi and Kampala (Kenya, Uganda)
(video: http://bit.ly/ZBHpdS and http://bit.ly/YDCJkH)
The film Slumdog Millionaire included vivid scenes of outdoor community pit latrines in Mumbai's wretched slums, which are common also in Kenya's large slums, as is the "flying toilet" -- human waste thrown outside in a bag. Joy Kiruki and brother Patrick Kiruki of Kenya hopes to change the script for the poor in Kenya's urban metropolis, installing up to 500 novel in-home toilets that allow users to hygienically dispose of human waste in privacy. Waste is collected in a compostable bag stored odor-free in the toilet. The system includes collection services together with health and sanitation education.
In Uganda, meanwhile, almost all human waste is discharged into bodies of water causing huge health problems. Researchers led by Dr. Corinne Schuster-Wallace of UN University's Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health, will initiate the first steps in a proposed national program to collect and transform human and other waste into an energy and revenue-producing bio-gas. Supported by Canadian firms Anaergia Inc. (Ontario) and Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc. (British Columbia) eventual implementation will involve large underground tanks to mulch human waste along with fish market refuse and other organic trash. Methane from the tanks will be tapped for a new economical source of fuel. A recent study concluded that a sanitation system for 400,000 people in Kampala's urban slums can be run without subsidies by marketing wastewater products.
A mobile phone game and text messages to raise awareness of HIV's dangers (Kenya)
(video: http://bit.ly/11daydZ and http://bit.ly/17EGpGB)
A game-based approach to improving health will be tested in Kenya led by researcher Pam Muthuuri: a mobile phone role-playing game will raise awareness about HIV's dangers among girls and anticipate propositions from "sugar daddies." A complementary project, led by Dr. Njambi Njuguna of Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya, will send with HIV-related mobile phone text messages to young females, many of whom do not perceive themselves to be at risk and thus don't test. In Kenya, 84% of HIV-infected people are unaware of their status with 33% not testing because they don't perceive a risk to themselves.
Help for those caring for children with Africa's "nodding disease" (Uganda)
(video: http://bit.ly/14GL3YW)
Thousands of East African children aged 5 to 15 suffer from a mysterious, deadly affliction called "nodding disease," characterized by stunted physical and mental growth, as well as severe nodding or epileptic-like seizures or frozen motion most often brought on when the child eats or feels cold.
Helping the children by addressing the heavy toll on caregivers is the focus of a project headed by Dr. Byamah Mutamba of the National Referral Mental Hospital, Uganda. His aim is to "improve care through reducing adverse methods (e.g. physical restraints like tying them up on trees), improve help seeking, medication adherence, reduced stigma and discrimination and school (re)attendance. Using a lay-health worker led intervention will allow for culture appropriateness, improve access and utilization of health services."
Tapping local businesses: Malaria drugs on wheels (Tanzania)
(video: http://bit.ly/12xBtUC)
Over 90% of malaria deaths are children, of which 80% reside in rural areas.
Led by Daudi Simba of Tanzania's Muhimbili University, researchers will work to take advantage of a recent surge in motorcycle popularity in East Africa, putting them to work delivering anti-malaria drugs.
The project predicts that motorcycle deliveries will create near universal access (>80%) to effective malaria treatment in the test area 300 km west of Dar es Salaam, where about one-third of the 500,000 residents survive on less than $1 a day.
###
Other projects include:
A diabetes glucose meter cell phone attachment (http://bit.ly/13LDu2f)
A tool kit to save newborn lives (http://bit.ly/10to2qL)
Engineering gut microbiome bacteria to defend against waterborne diseases like cholera and thyphoid (http://bit.ly/17RHlud)
For a complete listing of projects by city and country, and more information on all grants, including short videos on each project, please visit grandchallenges.ca
To date, Grand Challenges Canada has funded 270 projects around the world. There have already been 451 applications in 40 different countries for the next (5th) round of funding under the GCC Stars in Global Health programme.
Grand Challenges Canada is funded by the Government of Canada through the Development
Innovation Fund announced in the 2008 Federal Budget.
Please visit grandchallenges.ca and look for us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.
About Grand Challenges Canada
Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting bold ideas with big impact in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada through the Development Innovation Fund announced in the 2008 Federal Budget. We fund innovators in low and middle income countries and Canada. Grand Challenges Canada works with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and other global health foundations and organizations to find sustainable long-term solutions through integrated innovation - bold ideas which integrate science, technology, social and business innovation. Grand Challenges Canada is hosted at the Sandra Rotman Centre.
grandchallenges.ca
About Canada's International Development Research Centre
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) supports research in developing countries to promote growth and development. IDRC also encourages sharing this knowledge with policymakers, other researchers and communities around the world. The result is innovative, lasting local solutions that aim to bring choice and change to those who need it most.
As the Government of Canada's lead on the Development Innovation Fund, IDRC draws on decades of experience managing publicly funded research projects to administer the Development Innovation Fund. IDRC also ensures that developing country researchers and concerns are front and centre in this exciting new initiative.
idrc.ca
About Canadian Institutes of Health Research
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's health research investment agency. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 14,100 health researchers and trainees across Canada.
CIHR will be responsible for the administration of international peer review, according to international standards of excellence. The results of CIHR-led peer reviews will guide the awarding of grants by Grand Challenges Canada from the Development Innovation Fund.
cihr-irsc.gc.ca
About Sandra Rotman Centre
The Sandra Rotman Centre is based at University Health Network and University of Toronto. We develop innovative global health solutions and help bring them to scale where they are most urgently needed. The Sandra Rotman Centre hosts Grand Challenges Canada.
srcglobal.org
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When it comes to economic growth and business strength, there may be no better U.S. state than Utah, according to a report set to be released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
The business association found that Utah, population 2.8 million, ranked third among all states in overall economic performance - a measure of how states' economies have fared over time in terms of jobs, gross domestic product, productivity and income.
Moreover, Utah was the only state to make the top 10 lists for all five of the "policy" areas the Chamber assessed - exports, innovation and entrepreneurship, business climate, talent pipeline and infrastructure.
"Utah is the strongest job growth performer behind North Dakota ... The state is becoming known as a professional services and finance center," said the Chamber. "Manufacturing is a competitive advantage for the state. Over the past decade, Utah's manufacturing sector saw a slight increase in employment during a time when national manufacturing employment contracted by 22.51 percent."
Utah's unemployment rate is one of the lowest among the states at 4.9 percent in March 2013, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
Each year the Chamber ranks states according to various economic and business measures for its "Enterprising States" report. This year, fortune seemed directly tied to technology and engineering across the five areas the Chamber evaluates.
For exports, Utah came in third after Louisiana and Texas, primarily because it is a major supplier to the world of electronic memory circuits, aircraft engines and parts, vehicle airbags and X-ray equipment, according to the Chamber.
Utah had top rankings in entrepreneurship mostly because it is establishing high-tech businesses at a fast rate.
The Chamber also considered Utah strong in the "talent pipeline" area, which looks at both education and training as well as job assistance programs after the state legislature approved funds to foster more engineering graduates and software developers.
Technology was even a factor for Utah's top ranking in infrastructure, with the Chamber emphasizing Utah's high-speed data connections alongside the high quality of the state's bridges.
For the business climate measure, which assesses the influence of government-related costs on local businesses, the Chamber put Utah sixth because of its high small-business lending activity, low taxes and laws.
Technology also gave Maryland and Virginia a boost in the Chamber's report.
The Chamber ranked Maryland first in entrepreneurship, largely because of its research and development and its science and technology employment growth, and Virginia third partly for having the highest share of businesses in high-tech industries.
Still, the extraction and the commodities boom continues to prove crucial for jobs, business and incomes in most states.
North Dakota's "stratospheric growth" from the oil and natural gas industry put it first on the list of economic performance, followed by Texas, which has added 41,000 jobs in natural resources extraction in the last two years, according to the Chamber.
Three other energy heavyweights completed the top 10 economic performance list, with Wyoming fourth, Oklahoma seventh and Louisiana eighth.
The Chamber of Commerce is not the only one to notice that certain states are bounding ahead as the recovery from the 2007-09 recession unfolds. Earlier this month, Standard & Poor's Ratings Service said it expected to find the strongest growth this year in the Rocky Mountain region, including Utah and Wyoming, and in the West South Central area encompassing Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
(Reporting By Lisa Lambert; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
A fun night for a Pennsylvania couple turned deadly after police say the woman accidentally shot and killed her husband.
On Friday, around 9 p.m., police say Michael Wanko, 43, and Michele Wanko, 42, were ?casually drinking? vodka and lemonade together inside their home on West Roland Road in Parkside, Penn. Around 3:30 a.m., police say the couple went into their basement so that Michael could show his wife how to use a semiautomatic pistol. The couple went into a work room where several weapons were kept inside a safe.
?He took several of the weapons out, handguns and was demonstrating to her how the weapon worked as far as taking the magazine out, making sure it was safe, and how to pull the slide back,? said Parkside Police Chief John Egan.
As Michael reached into a safe to grab a gun, police say Michele picked up another gun and pulled the slide back, just as her husband had instructed her.
?When she let go of the slide, the weapon went off,? said Chief Egan.
Michael was struck in the upper chest. At the time, police say, the couple?s 2-year-old and 5-year-old sons were sleeping upstairs. Police say the 5-year-old was awakened by his mother?s frantic screams as she called 911.
Police arrived at the home around 4 a.m. Michael was taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center where he was pronounced dead shortly after.
Michele was charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and possessing an instrument of crime. She was processed at the Chester City Jail and released on $250,000 unsecured bail. Her two children are currently staying with relatives.
Police say the gun Michele used was turned over to the Delaware County ballistics unit where investigators would ?ascertain if the weapon malfunctioned or if it operated properly.?
Neighbors described the Wanko family as ?nice people? who always did things with their children and were well respected throughout the neighborhood. Chief Egan says police were called to their home a year ago for a domestic dispute but that it was only ?a shouting match between the two.? No one was charged in that incident.
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Gunmen surrounded Libya's Foreign Ministry on Sunday, calling for a ban on officials who worked for deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi holding senior positions in the new administration.
Just days after the French embassy in Tripoli was bombed, the armed protest raised fresh security fears in the capital and the German embassy suspended some of its activities.
At least 20 pick-up trucks loaded with anti-aircraft guns blocked the roads while men armed with AK-47 and sniper rifles directed the traffic away from the Foreign Ministry, witnesses said.
Armed groups also tried unsuccessfully to storm the Ministry of Interior and the state news agency, according to the prime minister who called a news conference to address the problem.
"These attacks will never get us down and we will not surrender," Ali Zaidan told reporters.
"Those who think the government is frustrated are wrong. We are very strong and determined."
Since Gaddafi was toppled by Western-backed rebels in 2011, Libya has been awash with weapons and roving armed bands that are increasingly targeting state institutions.
Tensions between the government and armed militias have been rising in recent weeks since a campaign was launched to dislodge the groups from their strongholds in the capital.
Sunday's protest was to demand a law - which has already been proposed - be passed, banning Gaddafi-era officials from senior government positions. The law could force out several ministers as well as the congress leader, depending on the wording adopted.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will remain closed until the political isolation law is implemented," the commander of the militia told Reuters.
The foreign ministry had been targeted because some officials employed there had worked for Gaddafi, he said.
Libya's legislature, the General National Congress, has previously been prevented from voting on the bill, when protesters barricaded assembly members inside a building for several hours in March demanding they adopt the law.
"The country will remain in crisis so long as these people are present," assembly member Tawfiq Al-Shehabi told Reuters.
The German embassy reduced its activities, a spokesman said, after the prime minister's assertion it had stopped work at its Tripoli mission.
"The German embassy continues to operate but public access is temporarily restricted," the spokesman said, declining to say how long the measures would remain in place.
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LONDON (AP) ? Anti-war protesters demonstrated Saturday outside a Royal Air Force base used to control drone flights over Afghanistan.
Until this week, British drones were operated only from a U.S. Air Force base in Nevada.
The Ministry of Defense announced Thursday that a new drone-operating squadron had begun operating from RAF Waddington in eastern England.
The ministry says the Reaper drones are used for "intelligence and surveillance missions," but also are equipped with missiles and bombs.
About 400 peace activists marched to the perimeter fence of the base, saying drones make it too easy to launch deadly attacks from a distance and out of public sight.
"Because of their remote nature, there is no risk to any of our forces and that makes it easier to launch weapons and makes it much easier for politicians to get involved in warfare," said Chris Cole of the Drone Campaign Network.
The defense ministry says drone operators "adhere strictly to the same laws of armed conflict and are bound by the same clearly defined rules of engagement" as other RAF pilots.
In this photo provided by The Daily Free Press and Kenshin Okubo, people react to an explosion at the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Daily Free Press, Kenshin Okubo) MANDATORY CREDIT
Medical workers aid injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. Two bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon on Monday, killing at least two people, injuring at least 22 others and sending authorities rushing to aid wounded spectators. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Boston police clear an area following an explosion near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Medical personnel work outside the medical tent in the aftermath of two blasts which exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
An unidentified Boston Marathon runner, center, is reunited with loved ones near Copley Square following an explosion in Boston Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
Medical workers aid an injured woman at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following two explosions there, Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. Two bombs exploded near the finish of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least two people, injuring at least 23 others and sending authorities rushing to aid wounded spectators. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Workers aid injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Herald, Stuart Cahill) MANDATORY CREDIT
In this photo provided by The Daily Free Press and Kenshin Okubo, people react to an explosion at the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Daily Free Press, Kenshin Okubo) MANDATORY CREDIT
In this photo provided by The Daily Free Press and Kenshin Okubo, people react to an explosion at the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Daily Free Press, Kenshin Okubo) MANDATORY CREDIT
In this photo provided by The Daily Free Press and Kenshin Okubo, people assist an injured after an explosion at the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Daily Free Press, Kenshin Okubo) MANDATORY CREDIT
Medical workers aid an injured woman at the scene of a bomb blast near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring at scores of others (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Medical workers aid injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring dozens of others (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Runners who were diverted from the race course walk on the Commonwealth Mall two blocks from the site of an explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring at least 23 others. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Una mujer llora afectada por una explosi?n mientras caminan cerca de la l?nea de meta de la Marat?n de Boston el lunes 15 de abril de 2013. Dos bombas estallaron el lunes causando la muerte de dos personas y heridas a otras 50, inform? la Polic?a de Boston. (AP Foto/Josh Reynolds)
An armed FBI agent passes a Boston police officer following an explosion at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)
A firefighter tends to an injured man following an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
One of the blast sites on Boylston Street near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon is investigated by a person in a protective suit in the wake of two blasts in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Firefighters tend to a man following an explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line Monday killing at least two people injuring dozens. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
In this photo provided by The Daily Free Press and Kenshin Okubo, people react to an explosion at the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Daily Free Press, Kenshin Okubo) MANDATORY CREDIT
Two people walk down the sidewalk as Boston police clear the area in Copley Square in the aftermath of two blasts which exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston Monday, April 15, 2013. The explosions Monday killed at least two people and injured dozens. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
This photo provided by Bruce Mendelsohn shows the scene after two explosions occurred during the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/ Bruce Mendelsohn) MANDATORY CREDIT
Medical workers respond following an explosion at the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, David L Ryan) MANDATORY CREDIT
Boston police direct runners who were diverted from the race course following an explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Medical workers aid injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, David L Ryan) MANDATORY CREDIT
Medical workers aid injured people at the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, David L Ryan) MANDATORY CREDIT
Blood from victims covers the sidewalk on Boylston Street, at the site of an explosion during the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. At the right foreground is a folding chair with the design of an American flag on the cover. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Chris Darmody, right, holds his wife Sue in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Chris says he was waiting for Sue when an explosion detonated near his location at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The couple were later reunited after all runners were diverted from the course. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Emergency responders comfort a woman on a stretcher who was injured in a bomb blast near the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. Two bombs exploded in the packed streets near the finish line of the marathon on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 80, authorities said. (AP Photo/Jeremy Pavia)
Emergency responders aid a woman on a stretcher who was injured in a bomb blast near the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. Two bombs exploded in the packed streets near the finish line of the marathon on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 80, authorities said. (AP Photo/Jeremy Pavia)
Emergency responders comfort a woman on a stretcher who was injured in a bomb blast near the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013 in Boston. Two bombs exploded in the packed streets near the finish line of the marathon on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 80, authorities said. (AP Photo/Jeremy Pavia)
Rescue personnel aid injured people near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following explosions in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Herald, Stuart Cahill)
Rescue personnel aid injured people near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following explosions in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Herald, Stuart Cahill)
Injured people and debris lie on the sidewalk near the Boston Marathon finish line following an explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/MetroWest Daily News, Ken McGagh) MANDATORY CREDIT
As Boston Marathon runners walk by, SWAT team members stand guard near the finish line in Boston Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. ( (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
People react to an explosion at the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Herald, Stuart Cahill) BOSTON GLOBE OUT; METRO BOSTON OUT; MAGS OUT;
Investigators shine flashlights at one of the blast sites on Boylston Street near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon in the wake of two blasts in Boston Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
In this image from video provided by Ryan Hoyme, the second explosion can be seen in the distance as smoke from the first explosion surrounds spectators exiting the stands during the Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Ryan Hoyme)
knocked down runner
Bill Iffrig, 78, lies on the ground as police officers react to a second explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Iffrig, of Lake Stevens, Wash., was running his third Boston Marathon and near the finish line when he was knocked down by one of two bomb blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, John Tlumacki)
A Boston Marathon runner leaves the course crying near Copley Square following an explosion at the finish line in Boston on Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
People react as an explosion goes off near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions went off at the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, David L Ryan) MANDATORY CREDIT
Multiple People Injured After Explosions Near Finish Line at Boston Marathon
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 15: A runner embraces another woman on the marathon route near Kenmore Square after two bombs exploded during the 117th Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two people are confirmed dead and at least 23 injured after two explosions went off near the finish line to the marathon. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)
Multiple People Injured After Explosions Near Finish Line at Boston Marathon
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 15: A runner reacts near Kenmore Square after two bombs exploded during the 117th Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two people are confirmed dead and at least 23 injured after two explosions went off near the finish line to the marathon. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)
Multiple People Injured After Explosions Near Finish Line at Boston Marathon
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 15: A runner embraces another woman near Kenmore Square after two bombs exploded during the 117th Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two people are confirmed dead and at least 23 injured after two explosions went off near the finish line to the marathon. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)
Multiple People Injured After Explosions Near Finish Line at Boston Marathon
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 15: A woman is loaded into an ambulance after he was injured by one of two bombs exploded during the 117th Boston Marathon near Copley Square on April 15, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two people are confirmed dead and at least 23 injured after two explosions went off near the finish line to the marathon. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
Multiple People Injured After Explosions Near Finish Line at Boston Marathon
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 15: A woman is loaded into an ambulance after he was injured by one of two bombs exploded during the 117th Boston Marathon near Copley Square on April 15, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two people are confirmed dead and at least 23 injured after two explosions went off near the finish line to the marathon. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
Multiple People Injured After Explosions Near Finish Line at Boston Marathon
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 15: A woman, with blood on fingers, is loaded into an ambulance after being injured after two bombs exploded on the marathon route on April 15, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two people are confirmed dead and at least 23 injured after two explosions went off near the finish line to the marathon. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
Multiple People Injured After Explosions Near Finish Line at Boston Marathon
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 15: A woman looks at the blood on her hands as she is loaded into an ambulance after being injured after two bombs exploded on the marathon route on April 15, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two people are confirmed dead and at least 23 injured after two explosions went off near the finish line to the marathon. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
Multiple People Injured After Explosions Near Finish Line at Boston Marathon
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 15: Two blood stained feet of a man hang outside an ambulance outside a medical tent located near the finish of the 117th Boston Marathon after two bombs exploded on the marathon route on April 15, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two people are confirmed dead and at least 23 injured after two explosions went off near the finish line to the marathon. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
Boston police ask people to leave the area in Copley Plaza in the aftermath of two blasts which exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Param?dicos asisten a un hombre herido despu?s de una explosi?n en Boston el Lunes 15 de Abril de 2013. Dos bombas estallaron cerca de la l?nea de meta del marat?n de Boston, causaron dos muertos y 22 heridos, dijeron la polic?a y los organizadores de la competici?n. (AP Foto/The Boston Globe, David L. Ryan)
Uniformed Division Secret Service officers stand watch on the sidewalk in front of the White House looking north from Pennsylvania Avenue during heightened security following the explosions in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013 in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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Public release date: 29-Apr-2013
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