Maternal, Newborn, and Adolescent Health

Marc Mitchell of D-tree International in the U.S. will develop and test a mobile phone-based tool using clinical algorithms that rapidly identify women at risk during labor and delivery and facilitate emergency transfer to a hospital. The tool is a combination of phone decision support, data storage, on-line banking, and communications on a single device at the point of care, and it could significantly reduce maternal mortality in low-income countries.

Andrew Shennan and colleagues at Kings College London in the United Kingdom will field test in rural Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe a new blood pressure monitor which uses solar power and requires little training for its ability to increase detection rates and improve outcomes of women with preeclampsia in these communities. In Phase I they performed a feasibility study by introducing a selected and validated blood pressure monitor into low resource rural clinics in Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and providing basic training.

Ludwig Neyses, Nicola Tirelli of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and Benjamin Kaupp of the Max Planck Institute in Germany will test an affordable, sustained drug delivery formulation made of microparticle "doughnuts" combined with recently identified non-hormonal substances that immobilize sperm for possible use in a vaginal contraceptive device.

Sujoy Guha of the Indian Institute of Technology in India will test a new transcervical contraceptive made from a polymer compound for its ability to incapacitate both sperm and ovum. The novel compound is delivered to the fallopian tubes in liquid form, changed to a semi-solid form with an external application of radio frequency, and can be flushed out for fast and complete reversibility.

Abi Santhosh Aprem of HLL Lifecare Ltd. in India will attempt to eliminate the side effects associated with copper T intrauterine devices by coating the copper with biodegradable polymers. The polymers could prevent bulk shedding of copper ions that cause bleeding, cramping and pain, leading to increased acceptance of this highly effective contraceptive device. In this project's Phase I research, Aprem determined the optimal polymer film and coating technique and demonstrated that it was safe and effective in controlling copper ion release at the required daily levels.

Chakib Tadj of École de Technologie Supérieure in Canada will design a non-invasive diagnostic tool using computer acoustical analysis of newborn cries to detect serious medical conditions such as heart defects and infections. Cry production in newborns can be influenced by neurological and physiological states. In this project's Phase I, Tadj and his team analyzed cries from 120 healthy and sick newborns to identify acoustic features that can be used for diagnostic purposes.

Nongnuj Tanphaichitr of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (formerly Ottawa Health Research Institute) in Canada will research whether the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 can be used simultaneously as a contraceptive and an anti-HIV treatment. LL-37 binds to specific sites on sperm which are thought not only to play key roles in egg fertilization but also interact with gp120 used by HIV to gain entry into cells.

Md Abdul Quaiyum of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh will develop and test an inexpensive, biodegradable absorbent mat that can be placed under mothers who have just delivered babies to assess immediate postpartum blood loss. The mat can be weighed at regular intervals to measure absorbed blood, providing easy and early detection of postpartum hemorrhaging.

Guiying Nie and colleagues of Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research in Australia will test the utility of measuring blood levels of the HtrA3 protein for the early diagnosis of preeclampsia, which is a serious disorder of human pregnancy. Early diagnosis would enable therapeutic intervention helping to avoid premature delivery and associated risks. In Phase I, they developed a high-throughput assay to detect HtrA3 levels in the blood, and evaluated its ability to identify pregnancies at high risk of preeclampsia using a small number of samples.

Michelle McIntosh of Monash University in Australia will develop and test the stability and efficacy of a dry powder formulation of the drug oxytocin, which is used to treat post-partum bleeding, in an inexpensive inhalant format that would be a needle-free, non-refrigerated option suitable for use in remote areas with limited training. The project's Phase I research provided proof-of-concept that the inhalation of pharmaceutically engineered particles of oxytocin can rapidly induce therapeutically-relevant contraction of uterine smooth muscle.