Research collaboration with low resource countries: overcoming the challenges.

The gap in research capacity between low and high resource countries and the effect on the global trend of health research cannot be ignored any more. Therefore the need for research collaboration between the two groups cannot be overemphasized. The discrepancy of economies makes for differences in research capacity, psychosocial needs, ethical considerations, focus and challenges. For such collaboration to work out, every collaborator needs to be aware of these challenges and work with them. Collaborations with low resource countries will require transparency, mutual respect and respect for social norms. Collaborations should no longer be that of taker or master, but of cooperation. The dearth of adequate research manpower and well equipped laboratories in low resource countries calls for a deliberate effort by strong research centers to go a step further in collaboration and adopt a centre or laboratory.

Microarray comparison of prostate tumor gene expression in African-American and Caucasian American males: a pilot project study.

African American Men are 65% more likely to develop prostate cancer and are twice as likely to die of prostate cancer, than are Caucasian American Males. The explanation for this glaring health disparity is still unknown; although a number of different plausible factors have been offered including genetic susceptibility and gene-environment interactions. We favor the hypothesis that altered gene expression plays a major role in the disparity observed in prostate cancer incidence and mortality between African American and Caucasian American Males. To discover genes or gene expression pattern(s) unique to African American or to Caucasian American Males that explain the observed prostate cancer health disparity in African American males, we conducted a micro array pilot project study that used prostate tumors with a Gleason score of 6. We compared gene expression profiling in tumors from African-American Males to prostate tumors in Caucasian American Males. A comparison of case-matched ratios revealed at least 67 statistically significant genes that met filtering criteria of at least +/- 4.0 fold change and p < 0.0001. Gene ontology terms prevalent in African American prostate tumor/normal ratios relative to Caucasian American prostate tumor/normal ratios included interleukins, progesterone signaling, Chromatin-mediated maintenance and myeloid dendritic cell proliferation. Functional in vitro assays are underway to determine roles that selected genes in these onotologies play in contributing to prostate cancer development and health disparity.

Reduced alcohol use in the staining of Pap smears: a satisfactory low-cost protocol for cervical cancer screening.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a low-cost Papanicolaou staining procedure that can be applied to conventional and monolayer gynecologic preparations. STUDY DESIGN: The amount of alcohol consumed in the procedure, which normally accounts for > 80% of the cost of processing, was reduced drastically by (1) using only 1 modified cytoplasmic counterstain (EA type), thereby (2) reducing the number of alcohol rinses by over half Orange-G dye is omitted. RESULTS: The resultant effect of the modified staining protocol is quite satisfactory and attractive to screening eyes: nuclear details are sharp and crisp, while the cytoplasm contains transparent differential staining with blue-green and pink. CONCLUSION: A reduction in the cost of staining should encourage cervical cancer screening, especially in developing countries, where cost is a limiting factor, thus making it possible for more women to be screened without increasing the cost of the program.