12 research outputs found
Serological Profiling for Malaria Surveillance Using a Standard ELISA Protocol
No full textThe enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a reliable and relatively low-cost method for measuring soluble ligands such as antibodies and proteins in biological samples. For analysis of specific antibodies in serum, a capture antigen is immobilized onto a solid polystyrene surface from which it can capture the antibodies. The captured antibodies are subsequently detected using a secondary antibody conjugated to an enzyme. Detection is accomplished by addition of a colorimetric substrate, and the readout is absorbance (optical density). Here, we provide a detailed standardized ELISA protocol for the quantification of antibodies against malaria antigens
Replication Data for: Anti-merozoite antibodies induce natural killer cell effector function and are associated with immunity against malaria
No full textThis is a replication dataset for the manuscript titled: "Anti-merozoite antibodies induce natural killer cell effector function and are associated with immunity against malaria.
En-gendering theatre in Eritrea : the roles and representations of women in the performing arts
No full textThis thesis is a first attempt at writing a modern theatre historiography of Eritrea, with emphasis on the roles and representations of women. It covers a period of some fifty years, from the late 1930s to 1991, the year of the country's de facto independence. The study is divided into three major sections; Part One providing the context of theatre in Eritrea, Part Two dealing with the emergence of modern Eritrean theatre arts, and Part Three covering the rise of the fighter performing arts during the thirty-year liberation struggle against Ethiopia.
After an introduction to Eritrean history and theatre arts as well as the theoretical framework of the study, Chapter 1 examines women's roles and representations in Eritrean societies and selected traditional performing arts as the
matrix onto which modern performance practices are built.
Chapter 2 starts with a portrayal of early urban women performers in the late 1930s and early 1940s as singers and krar-players in local drinking houses, followed by the gradual expansion of Eritrean theatre arts under the British
Military Administration. Thereafter the establishment of three well-known Eritrean theatre associations is examined, with Chapter 3 focusing on the Asmara Theatre Association, Mahber Theatre Asmara, whose work was eventually brought to a halt by the rise of the Ethiopian Derg regime. An investigation into the cultural troupes of the two liberation movements, the Eritrean Liberation Front
(ELF) and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) is dealt with in Part Three.
Chapter 4 outlines theatre work in the ELF, while Chapters 5-7 present details of EPLF performing arts. Chapter 5 begins with early performance activities until
the strategic retreat in 1978/79, followed by Chapter 6 with an analysis of drama work after the reorganisation of the Division of Culture. Chapter 7 covers theatre
activities in mass organisations and supporting departments and outlines cultural developments during the final years of the liberation war. In conclusion, major trends and directions in post-independence Eritrean theatre arts are summarised as they continue to negotiate recent socio-political problems and developments
The challenge of feminism in Kenya : towards an Afrocentric worldview
No full textThis study deals with African women's literature, and specifically creative writing by Kenyan women, in the context of feminism and Afrocentricity. In the words of Obioma Nnaemeka (1995) critics of African women's literature have tended to rename, misname or silence women's voices in an attempt to make them fit into a feminist! Afrocentricity either or mould. This thesis argues that when attention is paid to African women
themselves, and the cultures from which and within which they write, it is clear that they embrace both feminism and Afrocentricity. By feminism I refer to African women's vision and activism for sexual equality and women's liberation while by Afrocentricity I am thinking of their commitment and pride in their African cultures and
traditions.
The first chapter argues that Kenyan women, in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial times, have been active and voiced in their stance against oppression of any kind. In the second chapter, I explore the relationship between feminism and Afrocentricity in a wider sense. I pay attention to the ways in which the two concepts have manifested themselves in Africa and her Diaspora as well as in the western world. In chapter three, domestic violence, rape, poverty, and a gender insensitive legal and judiciary
system are the dominant issues of concern to short stories writers from Kenya. In the fourth chapter, Ogot is seen as a liberal Afrocentric feminist in her call for African
women to create room for themselves within African systems of thought and practice. Chapter five, on Oludhe Macgoye, argues that to be Afrocentric is cultural rather than
racial. In Chapter six Rebeka Njau and Margaret Ogola are seen as Afrocentric while Tsitsi Dangarembga and Alice Walker are seen as Eurocentric. The thesis concludes that feminism in practice is not necessarily an occidental phenomenon. An African woman writer can be both feminist and Afrocentric
Never be silent : publishing & imperialism in Kenya, 1884-1963
No full textSocial communications are central to any social struggle. There is a sizable body of literature from other countries on the use of oral medium, newspapers, books and other forms of communications being used as tools for organising against a powerful enemy, as a training ground for cadres and for clarifying and developing revolutionary theory, ideology, organisation and practice. All this ensures a greater unity among those resisting oppression and exploitation. Thus revolutionary and liberation forces of Bolsheviks in the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of China, and in Vietnam had developed theories and practices of revolutionary publishing as part of their revolutionary work. This has also been the case during anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles in Africa, but very little of this has been systematically documented as an aspect of revolutionary communications policy and practice. While the
colonial communications systems have been reasonably well documented, the resistance communication systems remain largely undocumented and ignored. This book is an initial attempt to document this dynamic communications process in Kenya with its external struggles against colonialism and its complex internal struggles with overlaying divisions of race and class, Kenyan and foreign peoples. The main theme emerging from this experience is that people struggling to change their society always find ways of establishing their own system of communicating with the people they lead
and by whom they are led. Their mission of revolution, of change, of peace, of social and economic justice requires that they should never be silent. This was well understood and practised by the liberation forces in Kenya. They
were never silent
KILchip v1.0: A Novel Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Protein Microarray to Facilitate Malaria Vaccine Candidate Prioritization
No full textPassive transfer studies in humans clearly demonstrated the protective role of IgG antibodies against malaria. Identifying the precise parasite antigens that mediate immunity is essential for vaccine design, but has proved difficult. Completion of the Plasmodium falciparum genome revealed thousands of potential vaccine candidates, but a significant bottleneck remains in their validation and prioritization for further evaluation in clinical trials. Focusing initially on the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite proteome, we used peer-reviewed publications, multiple proteomic and bioinformatic approaches, to select and prioritize potential immune targets. We expressed 109 P. falciparum recombinant proteins, the majority of which were obtained using a mammalian expression system that has been shown to produce biologically functional extracellular proteins, and used them to create KILchip v1.0: a novel protein microarray to facilitate high-throughput multiplexed antibody detection from individual samples.The microarray assay was highly specific; antibodies against P. falciparum proteins were detected exclusively in sera from malaria-exposed but not malaria-naïve individuals. The intensity of antibody reactivity varied as expected from strong to weak across well-studied antigens such as AMA1 and RH5 (Kruskal–Wallis H test for trend: p < 0.0001). The inter-assay and intra-assay variability was minimal, with reproducible results obtained in re-assays using the same chip over a duration of 3 months. Antibodies quantified using the multiplexed format in KILchip v1.0 were highly correlated with those measured in the gold-standard monoplex ELISA [median (range) Spearman's R of 0.84 (0.65–0.95)]. KILchip v1.0 is a robust, scalable and adaptable protein microarray that has broad applicability to studies of naturally acquired immunity against malaria by providing a standardized tool for the detection of antibody correlates of protection. It will facilitate rapid high-throughput validation and prioritization of potential Plasmodium falciparum merozoite-stage antigens paving the way for urgently needed clinical trials for the next generation of malaria vaccines
KILchip v1.0: A Novel Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Protein Microarray to Facilitate Malaria Vaccine Candidate Prioritization.
No full textPassive transfer studies in humans clearly demonstrated the protective role of IgG antibodies against malaria. Identifying the precise parasite antigens that mediate immunity is essential for vaccine design, but has proved difficult. Completion of the Plasmodium falciparum genome revealed thousands of potential vaccine candidates, but a significant bottleneck remains in their validation and prioritization for further evaluation in clinical trials. Focusing initially on the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite proteome, we used peer-reviewed publications, multiple proteomic and bioinformatic approaches, to select and prioritize potential immune targets. We expressed 109 P. falciparum recombinant proteins, the majority of which were obtained using a mammalian expression system that has been shown to produce biologically functional extracellular proteins, and used them to create KILchip v1.0: a novel protein microarray to facilitate high-throughput multiplexed antibody detection from individual samples. The microarray assay was highly specific; antibodies against P. falciparum proteins were detected exclusively in sera from malaria-exposed but not malaria-naïve individuals. The intensity of antibody reactivity varied as expected from strong to weak across well-studied antigens such as AMA1 and RH5 (Kruskal-Wallis H test for trend: p < 0.0001). The inter-assay and intra-assay variability was minimal, with reproducible results obtained in re-assays using the same chip over a duration of 3 months. Antibodies quantified using the multiplexed format in KILchip v1.0 were highly correlated with those measured in the gold-standard monoplex ELISA [median (range) Spearman's R of 0.84 (0.65-0.95)]. KILchip v1.0 is a robust, scalable and adaptable protein microarray that has broad applicability to studies of naturally acquired immunity against malaria by providing a standardized tool for the detection of antibody correlates of protection. It will facilitate rapid high-throughput validation and prioritization of potential Plasmodium falciparum merozoite-stage antigens paving the way for urgently needed clinical trials for the next generation of malaria vaccines
Table_1_KILchip v1.0: A Novel Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Protein Microarray to Facilitate Malaria Vaccine Candidate Prioritization.XLSX
No full textPassive transfer studies in humans clearly demonstrated the protective role of IgG antibodies against malaria. Identifying the precise parasite antigens that mediate immunity is essential for vaccine design, but has proved difficult. Completion of the Plasmodium falciparum genome revealed thousands of potential vaccine candidates, but a significant bottleneck remains in their validation and prioritization for further evaluation in clinical trials. Focusing initially on the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite proteome, we used peer-reviewed publications, multiple proteomic and bioinformatic approaches, to select and prioritize potential immune targets. We expressed 109 P. falciparum recombinant proteins, the majority of which were obtained using a mammalian expression system that has been shown to produce biologically functional extracellular proteins, and used them to create KILchip v1.0: a novel protein microarray to facilitate high-throughput multiplexed antibody detection from individual samples.The microarray assay was highly specific; antibodies against P. falciparum proteins were detected exclusively in sera from malaria-exposed but not malaria-naïve individuals. The intensity of antibody reactivity varied as expected from strong to weak across well-studied antigens such as AMA1 and RH5 (Kruskal–Wallis H test for trend: p < 0.0001). The inter-assay and intra-assay variability was minimal, with reproducible results obtained in re-assays using the same chip over a duration of 3 months. Antibodies quantified using the multiplexed format in KILchip v1.0 were highly correlated with those measured in the gold-standard monoplex ELISA [median (range) Spearman's R of 0.84 (0.65–0.95)]. KILchip v1.0 is a robust, scalable and adaptable protein microarray that has broad applicability to studies of naturally acquired immunity against malaria by providing a standardized tool for the detection of antibody correlates of protection. It will facilitate rapid high-throughput validation and prioritization of potential Plasmodium falciparum merozoite-stage antigens paving the way for urgently needed clinical trials for the next generation of malaria vaccines.</p
Image_1_KILchip v1.0: A Novel Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Protein Microarray to Facilitate Malaria Vaccine Candidate Prioritization.TIFF
No full textPassive transfer studies in humans clearly demonstrated the protective role of IgG antibodies against malaria. Identifying the precise parasite antigens that mediate immunity is essential for vaccine design, but has proved difficult. Completion of the Plasmodium falciparum genome revealed thousands of potential vaccine candidates, but a significant bottleneck remains in their validation and prioritization for further evaluation in clinical trials. Focusing initially on the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite proteome, we used peer-reviewed publications, multiple proteomic and bioinformatic approaches, to select and prioritize potential immune targets. We expressed 109 P. falciparum recombinant proteins, the majority of which were obtained using a mammalian expression system that has been shown to produce biologically functional extracellular proteins, and used them to create KILchip v1.0: a novel protein microarray to facilitate high-throughput multiplexed antibody detection from individual samples.The microarray assay was highly specific; antibodies against P. falciparum proteins were detected exclusively in sera from malaria-exposed but not malaria-naïve individuals. The intensity of antibody reactivity varied as expected from strong to weak across well-studied antigens such as AMA1 and RH5 (Kruskal–Wallis H test for trend: p < 0.0001). The inter-assay and intra-assay variability was minimal, with reproducible results obtained in re-assays using the same chip over a duration of 3 months. Antibodies quantified using the multiplexed format in KILchip v1.0 were highly correlated with those measured in the gold-standard monoplex ELISA [median (range) Spearman's R of 0.84 (0.65–0.95)]. KILchip v1.0 is a robust, scalable and adaptable protein microarray that has broad applicability to studies of naturally acquired immunity against malaria by providing a standardized tool for the detection of antibody correlates of protection. It will facilitate rapid high-throughput validation and prioritization of potential Plasmodium falciparum merozoite-stage antigens paving the way for urgently needed clinical trials for the next generation of malaria vaccines.</p
Image_3_KILchip v1.0: A Novel Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Protein Microarray to Facilitate Malaria Vaccine Candidate Prioritization.TIFF
No full textPassive transfer studies in humans clearly demonstrated the protective role of IgG antibodies against malaria. Identifying the precise parasite antigens that mediate immunity is essential for vaccine design, but has proved difficult. Completion of the Plasmodium falciparum genome revealed thousands of potential vaccine candidates, but a significant bottleneck remains in their validation and prioritization for further evaluation in clinical trials. Focusing initially on the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite proteome, we used peer-reviewed publications, multiple proteomic and bioinformatic approaches, to select and prioritize potential immune targets. We expressed 109 P. falciparum recombinant proteins, the majority of which were obtained using a mammalian expression system that has been shown to produce biologically functional extracellular proteins, and used them to create KILchip v1.0: a novel protein microarray to facilitate high-throughput multiplexed antibody detection from individual samples.The microarray assay was highly specific; antibodies against P. falciparum proteins were detected exclusively in sera from malaria-exposed but not malaria-naïve individuals. The intensity of antibody reactivity varied as expected from strong to weak across well-studied antigens such as AMA1 and RH5 (Kruskal–Wallis H test for trend: p < 0.0001). The inter-assay and intra-assay variability was minimal, with reproducible results obtained in re-assays using the same chip over a duration of 3 months. Antibodies quantified using the multiplexed format in KILchip v1.0 were highly correlated with those measured in the gold-standard monoplex ELISA [median (range) Spearman's R of 0.84 (0.65–0.95)]. KILchip v1.0 is a robust, scalable and adaptable protein microarray that has broad applicability to studies of naturally acquired immunity against malaria by providing a standardized tool for the detection of antibody correlates of protection. It will facilitate rapid high-throughput validation and prioritization of potential Plasmodium falciparum merozoite-stage antigens paving the way for urgently needed clinical trials for the next generation of malaria vaccines.</p
