Properly Functioning Scientific Equipment in Developing Countries

Öman, Cecilia; Gamaniel, K.; Addy, Marian E.

doi:10.1021/ac069434o

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…The need for cheap and reliable analytical methods is general but the problem becomes more acute in the case of developing countries where purchasing, and also maintaining, analytical equipment is plagued with difficulties [56,57]. Unfortunately, this issue is rarely discussed in scientific journals.…”

Section: Cheap Simple and Reliable Analytical Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food for Thought: A Critical Overview of Current Practical and Conceptual Challenges in Trace Element Analysis in Natural Waters

Filella

2013

Water

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Abstract:The practical and conceptual challenges faced by the analysis of trace elements present in natural waters are not merely, as is often thought, an endless race towards lower detection limits or to the development of techniques allowing the determination of any possible chemical species formed by all chemical elements. Rather, as discussed in this paper, they include the development of (i) robust, cheap, and reliable methods that could also be used by laypeople (the experience gained in the development of field kits for As is discussed as an example from which similar developments for other elements may be drawn); (ii) more environmentally-friendly methods (the current guiding criteria probably being too simplistic); and (iii) methods making it possible to follow diel concentration changes and sharp concentration variations caused by the probable increase of heavy rainfall events. This paper also claims that neither the measurement of total concentrations (reliable methods are lacking for many elements of the periodic table of trace elements, as illustrated through the cases of Bi, Te, and Sb), nor chemical speciation analysis, are as mature as often thought. In particular, chemical speciation studies demand the development of a better, comprehensive conceptual framework. A trial is carried out to lay the basis of such a framework.

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Section: Cheap Simple and Reliable Analytical Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food for Thought: A Critical Overview of Current Practical and Conceptual Challenges in Trace Element Analysis in Natural Waters

Filella

2013

Water

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“…No study was found in relation to the criterion of availability of facilities and equipment to replicate findings. The findings show that a lack of facilities and equipment in developing countries [30][31] can be one of the reasons for researchers to consider the methods used in articles when deciding whether to use these articles. One of the reasons for students' consideration of the feasibility of conducting a study when evaluating an article is to comply with the policies of the university's vice-chancellor for research.…”

Section: Content Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Pharmacy Students Evaluate the Credibility of Scientific Information: A Qualitative Study

Habibi¹,

Fatemi²,

Doshmangir³

2019

IJPER

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Objective: This research is aimed at exploring the evaluation of information credibility and its related criteria from the viewpoints and experiences of PhD students in pharmacy in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Methods: The qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Using convenience sampling method, 13 PhD students in pharmacy were selected. Rigor of the study was approved by member checking and external audit. A content analysis approach (inductive and deductive) was used for the analysis of the data. Results: Three themes, including "database evaluation", "information source evaluation" and "content evaluation", were extracted as the three most important components of the evaluation from students' viewpoint. Nine primary criteria were extracted for the evaluation of information, including accessibility, coverage, learnability, relevancy, accuracy authority, currency, replicability and source validity. The desired criteria were categorized after considering subject and concept proximity. Conclusion: This study revealed the criteria considered by students for evaluating information. Challenges and limitations regarding the evaluation of information were identified. The findings of the study will help the central library and librarians realize and address the challenges and limitations of information use.

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“…Even the simplest flow cytometers, however, may require more support and infrastructure than is readily available outside regional centers in many resource‐poor countries (31–33). At present, manual CD4 counting techniques (34), requiring relatively well‐trained technicians to process samples and then perform counts using microscopes and hemocytometers, are in use in Africa, Haiti, and elsewhere.…”

Section: Cd4 Counting In Resource‐poor Environments: Lessons Learnedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regrettably, these manual CD4 counting techniques also fail when faced with the huge increase in the demand for CD4 counts and when the continued monitoring of patients who are already on anti‐retroviral therapy is requested (19). Health care reform in general (35) and increasing the number of trained health professionals in particular (36) are not problems that those of us who develop and use cytometric methods can solve, although we can, should, and do participate in efforts to define the qualities of the optimal systems to use and to improve distribution of reagents and apparatus and support and maintenance of the latter (32, 33, 37, 38).…”

Section: Cd4 Counting In Resource‐poor Environments: Lessons Learnedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplified cytometry for routine monitoring of infectious diseases

Jánossy

Shapiro²

2008

Cytometry

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The interacting epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria in resource-poor areas of the world have created a critical need for rapid, simple, affordable apparatus and tests that will permit patients with these diseases to be promptly diagnosed and properly managed.As documented in the current issue of Clinical Cytometry, complex flow cytometric analyses used in affluent countries for CD4+ T cell counting in HIV/AIDS have been simplified, introduced, and quality assessed in resource-restricted countries of Africa and the Caribbean, where simple gating protocols such as panleucogating now provide accurate and precise CD4+ T cell counts on a large scale. CD4/CD8 ratios in infants may replace more expensive molecular tests for HIV infection; simplified flow cytometry is also compatible with HIV viral load-associated lymphocyte activation tests and with antigen-specific cellular immune response assays that rapidly diagnose active TB in both HIV-negative and HIV-TB coinfected individuals.In addition, it is becoming evident that smaller, much less expensive fluorescence imaging cytometers can be used for CD4 counting, immunophenotyping, and hematology and for other applications such as diagnosis and drug-susceptibility testing of TB and diagnosis of malaria. With the gradual, organized expansion of the much-needed diagnostic networks in the underprivileged countries, the most cost-effective apparatus may be one capable of performing tests for all the three diseases mentioned. The most sustainable systems will be those that can be assembled and maintained, to the greatest extent possible, in the countries where they will be used. q

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Properly Functioning Scientific Equipment in Developing Countries

Cited by 10 publications

References 1 publication

Food for Thought: A Critical Overview of Current Practical and Conceptual Challenges in Trace Element Analysis in Natural Waters

Food for Thought: A Critical Overview of Current Practical and Conceptual Challenges in Trace Element Analysis in Natural Waters

How Pharmacy Students Evaluate the Credibility of Scientific Information: A Qualitative Study

Simplified cytometry for routine monitoring of infectious diseases

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