The story of building healthful houses in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia / A história da construção de casas saudáveis em Sonda Oriental, Indonésia

Abstract While the State plays an important role in actively transforming communities into conditions considered as 'developed', at the micro level there are some traditional features which persist. This short ethnographic observation carried out among the Dawan in the village of Oinlasi, South Amanatun, East Nusa Tenggara, revealed that the ume kbubu, a Timorese traditional house style, has experienced some changes as a consequence of the introduction of the Ministry of Health's 'healthful housing' program around fifty years ago. It was found that this program, along with other development programs, has changed the traditional life of the communities in the village. However, the researchers also witnessed that the communities were responding to these changes in various ways. The traditional houses were, in some cases, built with modern materials, equipped with electricity, and used only as a kitchen, while the family lived in modern healthful housing nearby. It is concluded that, although the idea of healthful houses is accepted by the community, their traditional house persists.

Resumo Enquanto o Estado desempenha um papel importante na transformação ativa das comunidades em condições consideradas "desenvolvidas", em nível micro algumas características tradicionais persistem. Esta breve observação etnográfica levada a cabo entre os Dawan na aldeia de Oinlasi, no sul de Amanatun, em Sonda Oriental, revelou que o ume kbubu, um estilo de casa tradicional timorense, sofreu algumas mudanças como consequência da introdução do programa de "habitação saudável" do Ministério da Saúde, há cerca de cinquenta anos. Verificou-se que esse programa, com outros programas de desenvolvimento, mudou a vida tradicional das comunidades na aldeia. No entanto, os pesquisadores também testemunharam que as comunidades estavam respondendo a essas mudanças de várias maneiras. As casas tradicionais eram, em alguns casos, construídas com materiais modernos, equipadas com eletricidade e usadas apenas como cozinha, enquanto a família vivia em casas modernas e saudáveis nas proximidades. Conclui-se que, embora a ideia de casas saudáveis seja aceita pela comunidade, suas moradias tradicionais persistem.

The Prevalence of CYP2B6 Gene Polymorphisms in Malaria-endemic Population of Timor in East Nusa Tenggara Indonesia

OBJECTIVES: The CYP2B6 is one of the most polymorphic CYP genes in humans that has the potential to modify the pharmacological and toxicological responses to clinically important drugs such as antimalarial artemisinin and its derivatives. The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of CYP2B6 polymorphisms in Timor malaria endemic area, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia where Artemisin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) has been used to treat uncomplicated malaria. METHODS: A total of 109 healthy subjects were participated in this study. CYP2B6*4, *6 and *9 polymorphisms were analyzed using PCR-RFLP to confirm the SNPs prevalence of 516G>T and 785A>G in exon 4 and 5. RESULTS: There were 96 subjects included in the analysis. In the exon 4 of CYP2B6 516G>T, the frequency of the T mutation was 37.5% (39/96), and the wildtype 27.1% (26/96). In the exon 5, CYP2B6 785A>G mutant was detected in 29.2% (28/96) of individuals, and the wildtype allele in 35.4% (34/96). The frequency of CYP2B6*9 (516G>T), CYP2B6*4 (785A>G) and CYP2B6*6 (516G>T and 785A>G) were 40.6%, 29.2% and 22.9%, respectively. The prevalence of these CYP2B6 gene polymorphisms in Timorian ethnic were higher than that in Malay, Han Chinese, Indian, and Egyptian populations. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of these CYP2B6 516G>T and 785A>G polymorphisms in Timorian ethnic is higher than that in other populations. These polymorphisms may affect the metabolism of artemisinin and its derivatives.

Soluble expression, purification and structural analysis of the bHLH transcription factor Bmsage of Bombyx mori / 生物工程学报

Basic helix loop helix (bHLH) transcription factor plays an important role in biological processes. Bmsage is a class of bHLH transcription factor highly expressed in the silk gland of Bombyx mori, which is not only involved in the developmental regulation of the silk gland cells at the embryonic period, but also plays a crucial regulatory role during the synthesis of silk protein. However, currently, much of the property and structure of Bmsage is still remained unknown. To study the property, structure and biological role of Bmsage, we constructed several prokaryotic expression vectors of Bmsage fused with NusA, MBP, SUMO, Trx and His tags, respectively, then screened and determined the best soluble expression vector and condition of Bmsage in Escherichia coli combining with the induction temperature and IPTG concentration, and further purified the recombinant Bmsage by Ni-column affinity chromatography according to the established expression condition and characterized its secondary structure using circular dichroism spectra. The results showed that NusA and MBP could significantly enhance the soluble expression of Bmsage in E. coli, but it was difficult to separate Bmsage from these tags. SUMO could not only increase the soluble expression of Bmsage in E. coli to a certain degree, but also be effectively separated from Bmsage. Other tags did not effectively promote the soluble expression of Bmsage in E. coli. Circular dichroism spectra showed that the purified Bmsage had well-defined α-helix structure in solution, indicating that SUMO may promote the correct folding of Bmsage into native-like structure. These work not only establish a foundation for further study of the property, structure and function of Bmsage, but also provide a reference for the expression and purification of other similar proteins.