devinitorg/iati-policy-markers huggingface dataset:
Newton001:  Research and Training in Leishmaniasis, a Neglected Tropical Disease of Public Health Importance in Brazil To enhance research links between the UK and Brazil in the molecular, cell and immunobiology of Leishmania parasites, which cause the Neglected Disease leishmaniaisis, and their interaction with the mammalian host. To provide advanced skills training in state of-the-art in vivo imaging, RNA-seq and novel concepts in computer modelling of infection to drug development and the understanding of pathogenesis of leishmaniasis. This will address specific skills shortages in Brazil and highlight the reduction and refinement of animals in scientific research. To provide residential advanced training in Rio de Janeiro to integrate UK and Brazilian experts in in vivo imaging, advanced meta-approaches of genomics/transcriptome and computational modelling. This will allow established investigators and early career scientists to interact and will offer the opportunity for people with common research interests to develop new projects. To develop hypotheses and generate pilot data in Brazil that will underpin future research collaboration and funding applications. The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.
Strengthening the primary care system for adolescent indigenous health in Brazil: Integrating community health workers into the school setting Indigenous people all over the globe experience worse health and living conditions that non-indigenous people. Historic social and political forces are key factors but weak health systems also contribute to the explanation. Adolescent health is important, and represents an opportune time for intervention. This is of critical importance for indigenous communities, as the transition to adulthood is much quicker with earlier parenting and caring responsibilities compared to non-indigenous communities. Health priorities for Brazil, outlined in the United Nations High-Level Political Forum of 2017, include non-communicable diseases and diseases resulting from external causes (especially violence) with a focus on Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, 3, 5, 9 and 14, and on the central theme "Eradicating Poverty and Promoting Prosperity in a Changing World". Nowhere is this more pertinent than for their Indigenous populations whose children face the challenge of a legacy of social injustice and poor health.  There are ~1 million indigenous people in Brazil, of which ~50% is <24y. Mato Grosso do Sul, the location for the proposed study, contains the 2nd largest concentration of indigenous people (70,000), and 70% are <20y.  A lot of thought and investment has gone into the indigenous health system in Brazil but health of indigenous people still lags behind non-indigenous people. Community health workers represent an opportunity for improving the indigenous health system, based on evidence of effectiveness in other country settings. We will co-design an intervention in schools using CHWs to deliver universal and targeted services for health promotion, screening for health problems and early intervention. We will work with the local indigenous adolescents, teachers, and health professionals to design the content of the intervention and evaluation. We will conduct surveys to examine what processes work best and how they works to strengthen the indigenous primary care systems. To assess the influence of CHWs, we will collect data on satisfaction and health literacy. We will also gather information on health outcomes, which together with the other findings from this study will help us plan future large scale studies of the effectiveness of CHWs in schools. This new and important research will help us explore how to help indigenous young people avoid the ill health that their parents' and generations before them have experienced. The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.
Converting natural product leads into structure- and ligand-based drug discovery campaigns against leishmaniasis and Chagas' disease The neglected parasitic diseases, visceral leishmaniasis (VL), and Chagas' disease (CD), together cause an estimated 50,000 deaths annually world-wide. Most of the people affected by these terrible diseases are amongst the poorest members of society and often live in remote rural areas. Despite this death toll, the current treatments available are inadequate for many reasons. These problems include side effects, compounds not working very effectively, resistance to current drugs and the requirement for intravenous administration or repeated injections which are not suitable for the rural environments where these diseases are typically found. Consequently, the development of new, effective and safe oral drugs provides an opportunity to save many lives and improve the quality of life for whole regions of the developing world, through the reduction of the morbidity, mortality and the economic consequences of these diseases. Unfortunately there are very few compounds being developed for VL and CD.  In this proposal we aim to identify potential new targets for drug discovery programmes. These are typically enzymes, which are vital to the life of the parasites that cause the diseases. We aim to identify these start points by testing natural products against the parasites. For those natural products that kill the parasites, we will then find out how the compounds are killing the parasites. Natural products are chemical compounds that are found from natural sources, such as plants and bacteria. They often have unique chemical structures, that have not been made before by humans and are difficult to make synthetically. Therefore they provide good tools to identify potential drug targets that often would not be found by other means. Once we have identified the molecular target (enzymes) we can then carry out a drug discovery programme, either by using these natural products as starting points or using conventional drug discovery approaches to find inhibitors of the enzyme and then optimise them into potential drugs.  An established, fully integrated team comprised of the University of Dundee and University of São Paulo, São Carlos brings together the broad range of expertise required to discover these much needed drugs. The team combines natural product expertise, world renowned parasitology, expertise in identifying the modes of action of compounds in these parasites, extensive experience developing molecules that can kill the parasites, and the substantial expertise and infrastructure required to develop drug candidates suitable for progress toward clinical trials. The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.
Newton001 Tackling mental health disorders in females Poverty is associated with poor mental health: the incidence is highest in socio-economic classes C and D and mental health issues are more prevalent in women than men.  Poor mental health impacts on the welfare of afflicted individuals as well as the social and economic development of societies.  Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is one of the most common mental health disturbances in women. The peri-menopause is another time in women's lives that is characterised by psychological distress. Depressive illness also has a high prevalence in women. Despite the female bias in mental health disorders, the vast majority of basic research into psychiatric diseases and development of new drug treatments continues to be carried out almost exclusively using male animal models.   Our programme of research has been designed to educate th public about mental health issues specifically related to women. We also aim to improve training got young research workers in order to strengthen the research base in the field of female mental health. There are three main objectives:   1.to consolidate and expand an existing collaboration between research groups in the UK and Brazil working on female mental health disorders 2. to set up training programme for young scientists on the special approaches required for research on females  3. to develop an educational programme to stimulate public engagement and understanding of mental health issues. The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.
Potential of acellular biological scaffold coated with chemokines and cytokines as tissue engineered small artery grafts Millions of coronary or peripheral artery bypass grafts are performed yearly worldwide by cardiac and vascular surgeons using patient's own veins from the leg (SVG) or synthetic grafts. However, >50% of these grafts get blocked after 5-10 years, with common infections at the harvesting sites and frequent hospital re-admissions. Patient's own arteries are used only in 1:5 cases due to shortage of available artery, despite >95% of these do not get blocked after 15 years. Using arterial grafts made in the lab provides hope for future patients. Our previous research suggests that implanting biological tubes made from pig or cow material into a pig graft experimental model leads to encouraging but sub-optimal results. This is an exciting development, but we need to improve the lining of the graft to reduce the occurrence of blockages. Our goal is to improve the grafts by coating the biological scaffolds with proteins able to attract cells and create a suitable lining which stops blockage by blood clots and cell growth. Our plan will allow us to achieve grafts more similar to real arteries which avoid the use of the patients own leg vein and induce the patients blood cells to create an optimal graft. This would pave the road to bringing this new technology to the bedside in 5-10 years, while saving large amount of resources to the health services and greatly improving patient's well-being and outcome. The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.
A cluster randomized trial of an mHealth integrated model of hypertension, diabetes and antenatal care in primary care settings in India and Nepal Although pregnancy-related deaths and diseases still pose a substantial burden in India and Nepal, there has been a decline in maternal deaths since the 1990s, due to a decrease of common causes of mortality such as bleeding. At the same time, there has been an increase in deaths and ill health from other causes such as pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) and gestational diabetes (GDM). These two conditions are very frequent in the region where we are planning to conduct the study. Good quality antenatal care (ANC) can prevent, detect and treat these conditions effectively, but unfortunately there is good evidence that these recommended interventions are not being routinely implemented in the study settings.   Our research project aims to address this critical gap and enhance ANC, by using a tablet-based electronic decision support system (EDSS). This tablet (a) prompts frontline health workers to provide evidence-based routine ANC, (b) enhances detection and management of PIH and GDM, (c) facilitates record-keeping and reporting, and (d) links across various levels of care providers.  We are particularly interested in rural pregnant women using public-sector health services. The research questions are:   1) Does an mHealth EDSS, provided to frontline health workers, enhance ANC by improving adherence to national ANC guidelines, and improve the screening, detection, referral and management of GDM and PIH, compared with usual care in primary healthcare settings?  2) What are the socio-economic, health-system and political factors affecting the implementation of the enhanced ANC?   3) What is the cost of the enhanced ANC intervention, the change in resource use, and the costs of the intervention relative to the value of the improved health outcomes achieved?   The project has four components: 1. Formative research using qualitative methods to understand the context, intervention development to develop the technology and how to deliver it, and a pilot test, 2. Cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) to randomly pick primary health centres to implement and evaluate the intervention and compare them to other centres who give usual care 3. Ongoing evaluation, using qualitative methods to understand the processes of implementation and 4. Economic analysis to see what the intervention costs and how cost effective it is.  Our project will take place India (Telangana) and Nepal (Kathmandu) and will last 36 months. It will include a multi-disciplinary team of investigators coordinated by the Public Health Foundation of India, India, with support from three regional co-ordinating centres in (a) Delhi, India, (b) Kathmandu, Nepal and (c) London, UK. The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.
UK:Brazil Joint Centre Partnership in leishmaniasis Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease of humans that primarily affects the poorest people in developing countries. There is currently no effective vaccine and treatment relies on chemotherapy with inadequate drugs as the first line approach for reducing the burden of disease. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the most severe form of the disease and in Brazil it is caused by transmission of the protozoan parasite Leishmania infantum by sand flies; this leads to ~3,500 cases a year with ~10% deaths. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is also a significant public health concern, with Leishmania braziliensis being the most prevalent species. The UK:Brazil Joint Centre Partnership in leishmaniasis (JCPiL) will research the biology of the Leishmania parasite and its interaction with the mammalian host, primarily the human.  Studies will be focused on understanding parasite genetic diversity in the context of variations in factors produced by Leishmania that evoke disease, mechanisms of immune evasion, diversity of host response and immunopathology. The Centre is built on a strong track record of current or recent joint projects with Brazil involving investigators from 3 UK Universities (York, Durham and Glasgow) and 3 Brazilian States (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Piaui).  Close collaborative working between Brazil and the UK investigators will facilitate the translation of fundamental research into new diagnostics and therapies. To this end the JCPiL will fund five inter-related projects and a workshop will take place to promote research at the interface of basic and clinical science, to extend existing collaborations between UK and Brazil and to develop new partnerships and interdisciplinary ways of working. Overall, we expect the outcome from this partnership to be a greatly improved understanding of how the parasite causes disease and how this knowledge can be exploited to develop novel therapies to treat leishmaniasis. The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.
DNA hydroxymethylation, TET enzymes and regulation of stem cell activity during skin regeneration and wound healing Biological mechanisms that regulate the development of mammals, including humans, continue during the lifespan of individuals and are altered during ageing. As an organ that covers the body, the skin protects us from a variety of environmental insults, such as mechanical injury, ultraviolet irradiation, and variations in temperature.  The skin also provides a unique system for studying the mechanisms that control organ development, regeneration and ageing. Skin development results in formation of the epidermis, a stratified self-renewing epithelium. Additional structures of the skin include hair follicles, nails and glands. After birth, the epidermis continuously regenerates using the ability of epithelial stem cells to supply progeny cells that form all epidermal cell layers. Meanwhile, epidermal regeneration, following skin injury, is controlled by stem cells derived from the hair follicle.  Data obtained during the last decade has revealed that many cellular biochemical pathways controlling skin development and its postnatal regeneration are of particular importance. Recent data demonstrate that activity of these biochemical pathways is governed by epigenetic regulatory mechanisms. These mechanisms include covalent modifications of the DNA molecule and methylation/hydroxymethylation of the cytosine nucleotides, which play important roles in the control of gene activation and repression.  This project will look at how enzymes called Tet1/2/3 that regulate DNA hydroxymethylation  impact normal physiological skin regeneration and when induced by injury. This project will also explore how Tet1/2/3 regulate different molecular signals in epithelial stem cells and their progenies (that form skin and hair follicle epithelium), and their involvement in wound healing.  Studying the skin as a model system in this way, will cast light on the mechanisms that control the development and regeneration of other epithelial tissues, such as the epithelia of the intestine, teeth, kidney and lung. The knowledge gained from this study will also provide new opportunities for the development of novel epigenetic therapies to cure aberrant tissue growth and regenerative conditions, such as impaired wound healing in diabetic patients and in elderly individuals. The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.
'SPIICA' - the Sao Paulo-Imperial College Immune Correlates in Arbovirus Infection Network The Aedes egypti mosquito can spread a number of different viruses. In regions of Brazil, these include the different types of Dengue virus, as well as Zika virus, Yellow fever virus and Chikungunya virus. Of these, perhaps the least is understood about Chikungunya. It is believed to be rather underdiagnosed. The symptoms can include headache, fever and rash. However, the key concern is that a proportion of patients will go on to develop a devastating arthritis-like, chronic disease which can continue for years. In some cases, disease is fatal. This is thus a disease which causes great misery to those infected and also, a great financial healthcare burden in caring for chronic disease.  There is an urgent need to unravel why it is that some people experience mild disease, while others develop severe, chronic disease. It is believed that the chronic, joint disease is mediated not by the virus itself, but by the immune response to it. For this reason, there is an urgent need to understand the detailed aspects of protective host immunity, so reducing the risk that any future vaccines may inadvertently induce rather than prevent joint disease.  To address this question, we here propose to build a joint centre of leading immunologists in England and Brazil. We have called the joint centre 'SPIICA', an astronomical allusion to two separate stars that appear as one. We will work closely together, including joint workshops and staff training. Central to the plan is to recruit a Chikungunya patient cohort, 90 patients in each of four groups, across three seasons at 6 clinical centres in Brazil. Each patient will be carefully evaluated clinically for Chikungunya symptoms and followed longitudinally, giving periodic blood samples. These blood samples will be evaluated using a large array of state-of-the art technologies, allowing correlations to be drawn between the immune response and the disease features.  The approaches include characterisation of the antibody response to the virus, of the response by subsets of white blood cells including T lymphocytes and natural killer cells, and of immune mediators in the blood termed cytokines.  Our aim is that, by the end of this study, we will have a much-improved rationale to explain the different outcomes following infection. This should help explain how to build vaccines that can promote protection without causing harm and also, how to predict who might be the patients who will develop the chronic disease, treating them before symptoms develop. The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.
Treatment of multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections using capsule depolymerases A group of bacteria have recently emerged as a major threat to global human health. These "Gram-negative bacteria (GNB)" exploit the decreased capacity of critically ill patients to ward off infections; they are particularly dangerous as they accumulate genes that confer resistance to front-line antibiotics. Some of these infections are untreatable and morbidity and mortality are common. These bacteria are also becoming more virulent and are beginning cause serious infections outside critical care facilities. They impose a particularly severe burden on healthcare in Thailand: for example, in 2010 in excess of 90,000 hospitalized patients acquired infections with drug resistant GNB, around one third died and these infections resulted in excess of three million days of hospitalization. Because they have evolved so quickly, we do not have sufficient means to control these infections and to treat critically ill patients.  Most of the bacteria that cause these infections are protected from the patients' already compromised immune defences by the presence of a sugar-containing capsule; we know that removal of this protective outermost layer from the bacterial cell by capsule-degrading enzymes will enable the host to eliminate the attenuated pathogen. For this proposal, we wish to investigate the capacity of such enzymes ("capsule depolymerases") to strip the capsule from drug resistant strains of two of these bacterial species, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii. To begin the project, we will collect recent Thai isolates of these bacteria from hospitals in Bangkok and elsewhere in the country and sequence their genomes to enable us to compare them with global populations of similar bacteria. This analysis will inform on the range of capsule types carried by these "local" strains. We will then isolate bacterial viruses ("bacteriophage") that carry capsule depolymerases to enable them to dock onto the surface of their bacterial hosts prior to killing them. Once we have characterised a range of these enzymes, we will purify them and use molecular genetic techniques to engineer proteins in sufficient bulk for experiments in animal models of infection. If we are able to demonstrate that dosing infected rats with engineered enzymes favourably alters the course of infection, we will promote these novel agents as potential therapeutics for the treatment of these devastating infections in the human host. The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.