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We conducted a two‐treatment randomized control trial in northern Ghana to investigate how bundling index insurance with agricultural loans affects smallholder access to credit. In one treatment, farmer groups were invited to apply for production loans bundled with an index insurance contract that, in the event of a drought, indemnifies farmers directly (micro‐insured loans). In the second treatment, farmer groups were invited to apply for production loans bundled with an index insurance contract that, in the event of a drought, indemnifies the lender on the condition that the indemnity be used to retire the farmer's debt obligation (meso‐insured loans). Farmer groups in the control category were invited to apply for uninsured loans. We find that insured loans increase farmers' likelihood of receiving credit by between 15 and 21 percentage points. Exploring the mechanisms of this effect, we find no impact on the likelihood that farmers apply for credit but do find an increase in the likelihood of loan approvals of between 17 and 25 percentage points.

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Based on the hypothesis that interactions between virions and serum components may influence the outcome of dengue virus (DENV) infections, we decided to use affinity chromatography with domain III from the envelope (E) protein of DENV2 (DIIIE2) as a ligand to isolate virus-binding proteins from human plasma. This approach yielded serum amyloid P (SAP) and a 2 -macroglobulin (a 2 M) as novel viral interactors. After confirming the specific binding of both SAP and a 2 M to DIIIE2 by ELISA, the latter interaction was examined in greater detail. We obtain evidence suggesting that the binding species was actually the receptor-activated form of a 2 M (a 2 M*), that a 2 M* could bind monovalently to recombinant domain III from all four DENV serotypes with affinities in the micromolar range ranking as DENV4.DENV1~DENV2.DENV3 and that this interaction exhibited a strong avidity effect when multivalent binding was favoured (K D 8¾10"8 M for DIIIE2). We also showed that a 2 M* bound to DENV virions of the four serotypes, protecting the virus from temperature-induced inactivation in the absence of serum and enhancing infectivity. The latter effect exhibited an ED 50 of 2.9¾10 "8 M, also suggesting an avidity effect due to multivalent binding. These results will further contribute to the characterization of the virus-host factor interaction network during human DENV infection.

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