(Press-News.org) The HERMES Logistics Modeling Team, consisting of researchers from Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), the University of Pittsburgh School of Engineering and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, have used HERMES, their modeling software, to help the Republic of Benin in West Africa determine how to bring more lifesaving vaccines to its children. The team reports its findings this month in the journal Vaccine.
Results from the HERMES model have helped the country enact some initial changes in their vaccine delivery system, which may lead to further changes nationwide.
"The paper outlines our engagement with the Benin Ministry of Health in which we worked to choose among some key redesign options of their vaccine supply chain," says Shawn T. Brown, PhD, Director of Public Health Applications at PSC, Technical Lead of the HERMES team and first author. "It's a clear use of computational modeling and simulation to help a government figure out how to get the vaccines that are so desperately needed to every child they can."
The HERMES model also helped show the impact of adding the rotavirus vaccine to the nation's supply chain. Rotavirus is a major cause of infant mortality in low-income nations, killing nearly half a million children annually, with the highest death rates in Africa and South Asia.
"These are major policy decisions that could affect millions of lives," says Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA; Associate Professor of International Health and Director, Operations Research, International Vaccine Access Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Scientific Lead of the HERMES team; and co-author. "Our team's goal has been to develop state-of-the art computational technology to help such decision-making around the world."
The team used their HERMES (Highly Extensible Resource for Modeling Supply-chains) tool to evaluate different options of redesigning the Benin vaccine system being considered by the Benin Ministry of Health. These included maintaining the current national system; consolidating the nation's system of 80 "commune-level" supply depots to a system of 34 "health-zone" depots; eliminating the commune level entirely; and splitting the seven current high-level "department" and "regional" stores into 12 new departments. The investigators also evaluated the effects of changing transportation routes.
The computational model favored the health zone approach along with changing transportation routes, which could save between $50,000 and $70,000 in initial expenses and $50,000 to $90,000 in annual costs compared with the other scenarios, while still reaching 99 to 100 percent of children. Through 2017, the improved plan would save Benin over $500,000 in total costs while improving vaccination rates and facilitating the rotavirus vaccine.
HERMES is a software platform that allows users to generate a detailed discrete event simulation model of any vaccine supply chain. This simulation model can serve as a "virtual laboratory" for policy makers, health officials, funders, investors, vaccine and other technology developers, manufacturers, distributors, logisticians and researchers to address a variety of questions in supplying vaccines as well as other health supplies.
With the support of the Agence de Médecine Préventive, which participated in all steps of this innovative project, the Benin Ministry of Health has launched a successful demonstration following the group's pre-publication recommendations. The nation is now considering scaling the new system to the entire country.
INFORMATION:
About PSC: Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center is a joint effort of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Established in 1986, PSC is supported by several federal agencies, private industry and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and is a major partner in the National Science Foundation XSEDE program.
About IVAC: The International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) aims to improve access to life-saving vaccines by ensuring that the evidence required for decision-making is generated and synthesized, made available to policy makers, and results in concrete action. IVAC's work spans the fields of vaccine economics, epidemiology, clinical trials, modeling, advocacy and policy to address viral, bacterial and parasitic pathogens and disease syndromes. For more information, please visit: http://www.jhsph.edu/ivac.
About Agence de Médecine Préventive: Founded in 1972, AMP is a nonprofit organization with headquarters at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and offices in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Senegal. AMP's mission is to promote preventive medicine and public health by developing expertise and applied research in vaccinology; offering training in epidemiology and health program management; organizing scientific and technical meetings; and disseminating information on vaccinology and other health-related fields. For more information, please visit: http://www.amp-vaccinology.org/
About Vaccine: Vaccine is the pre-eminent journal for those interested in vaccines and vaccination. It is the official journal of The Edward Jenner Society, The International Society for Vaccines and The Japanese Society for Vaccinology. http://www.elsevier.com/locate/vaccine.
Notes for Editors: Full text of this article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact newsroom@elsevier.com or +31 20 485 3564 to obtain copies of the paper or to set up interviews with the authors.
PSC, Hopkins computer model helps Benin vaccinate more kids at lower cost
2014-05-12
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
A form of immune therapy might be effective for multiple myeloma
2014-05-12
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) provides evidence that genetically modifying immune cells might effectively treat multiple myeloma, a disease that remains incurable and will account for an estimated 24,000 new cases and 11,100 deaths in 2014
The researchers modified a type of human immune cell – called T lymphocytes, or T cells – to target a molecule called CS1, which is found on more than 95 percent of myeloma ...
Respect for human rights is improving
2014-05-12
By ignoring how the collection of data on political repression changes over time, human rights watchers may be misjudging reports that seem to show respect for human rights has not been improving, according to a Penn State political scientist.
Many political scientists and sociologists believe that allegations of human rights abuses drawn from sources such as the U.S. State Department and Amnesty International over the past few decades show that attention to human rights is stagnating, said Christopher Fariss, assistant professor of political science. However, a new ...
Scientists discover a natural molecule to treat type 2 diabetes
2014-05-12
Quebec City, May 12, 2014 – Researchers at the Université Laval Faculty of Medicine, the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute Research Center, and the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods have discovered a natural molecule that could be used to treat insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The molecule, a derivative of omega-3 fatty acids, mimics some of the effects of physical exercise on blood glucose regulation. The details of the discovery made by Professor André Marette and his team are published today in Nature Medicine.
It has been known for some time that omega-3 ...
The largest electrical networks are not the best
2014-05-12
This news release is available in Spanish. There is an optimum size for electrical networks if what is being considered is the risk of a blackout. This is the conclusion reached by a scientific study done by researchers at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid; the study analyzes the dynamics of these complex infrastructures.
In 1928, the British biologist and geneticist John Haldane wrote the essay "On being the right size" in which he stated that "For every type of animal there is a most convenient size, and a large change in size inevitably carries with it a change of ...
Entering adulthood in a recession linked to lower narcissism later in life
2014-05-12
We often attribute the narcissistic tendencies of others to parenting practices or early social experiences. But new research reveals that economic conditions in the formative years of early adulthood may also play a role.
The research shows that people who entered their adulthood during hard economic times are less narcissistic later in life than those who came of age during more prosperous times.
"These findings suggest that economic conditions during this formative period of life not only affect how people think about finances and politics, but also how they think ...
Round 2: Reactions serves up a second helping of chemistry life hacks (video)
2014-05-12
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2014 — It was the video that started it all, and now the latest installment of the segment that is one-part Mendeleev, one-part MacGyver is here. The American Chemical Society's (ACS') Reactions video team is proud to debut round two of chemistry life hacks. This volume is packed full of new chemistry-fueled solutions for everyday problems, like spotting rotten eggs, reviving soggy green vegetables and fixing busted buttons. The video is available at http://youtu.be/ReGfd_s9gXA
INFORMATION:
Subscribe to the series at Reactions YouTube, and follow ...
Triple negative breast cancer, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status
2014-05-12
ATLANTA – May 12, 2014—An analysis of a large nationwide dataset finds that regardless of their socioeconomic status, black women were nearly twice as likely as white women to be diagnosed with triple-negative (TN) breast cancer, a subtype that has a poorer prognosis. The analysis also found that Asian/Pacific Islander women were more likely to be diagnosed with another subtype of breast cancer: so-called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–overexpressing breast cancer. The study appears early online in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.
Triple-negative ...
Hospitals recover from recession, some financial issues remain
2014-05-12
The recent economic recession affected hospitals across the nation, regardless of financial status, but following the rebound, financially weak and safety-net hospitals continue to struggle, according to health researchers.
"Poor financial outcomes [for hospitals] could lead to poor care," said Naleef Fareed, assistant professor of health policy and administration, Penn State. "This is an issue that needs attention as health care reform moves forward."
Fareed and colleagues used data from both the American Hospital Association Annual Survey and the Centers for Medicare ...
Man's best friend shares similar 'albino' gene
2014-05-12
Michigan State University researchers have identified a genetic mutation in Doberman pinschers that causes albinism in the breed, a discovery that has eluded veterinarians and breeders worldwide up until now.
Paige Winkler, a doctoral student in the College of Veterinary Medicine, co-led the study with Joshua Bartoe, an assistant professor in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, and discovered a mutated gene that is associated with a form of albinism in humans.
"What we found was a gene mutation that results in a missing protein necessary for cells to ...
Against the current with lava flows
2014-05-12
This news release is available in German.
An Italian astronomer in the 19th century first described them as 'canali' – on Mars' equatorial region, a conspicuous net-like system of deep gorges known as the Noctis Labyrinthus is clearly visible. The gorge system, in turn, leads into another massive canyon, the Valles Marineris, which is 4,000 km long, 200 km wide and 7 km deep. Both of these together would span the US completely from east to west.
As these gorges, when observed from orbit, resemble terrestrial canyons formed by water, most researchers assumed that ...