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North-Eastern Uganda is a semi-arid region where inter-ethnic conflicts, cattle raids and violence are common. The nomadic Karamojong are the inhabitants of this region. A typical Karamojong man is socially defined by the number of his wives and cattle. As cattle, sheep, goats and camels are required for the payment of the bridal price, a Karamojong man spends most of his time raiding them in order to acquire more wives. Often, many warriors die in those raids, leaving behind young widows who, by age-old tradition, have to be inherited by the husband’s brother or clan mate. This article discusses the centrality of women, widows and widowhood in the inter-ethnic conflicts, raids and counter- raids that have characterized north-eastern Uganda for centuries. Using a qualitative approach involving key informant’s interviews, we analyzed the series of socio-cultural practices and customary laws that many Karamojong women and widows are subjected to during their struggles for basic needs, human rights, and dignity. The interviews were conducted from March to August 2021 in Karenga, Nakapiripirit and Amudat Districts of Karamoja, and in the suburbs of Mbale and Kampala Cities where a number of Karamojong women now live.

Esse texto, tem como objetivo analisar ações educativas voltadas ao meio rural no Estado de Goiás. Com base na análise do “Agrinho”, pretendemos analisar sobre o que esperam como formação de crianças? Em posse dessa questão, buscamos localizar o material do Agrinho para a leitura e localização de atividades formativas, contextualizamos as categorias de campo para entender o Senar, como agente educativo.

Protein-based microfibers are biomaterials of paramount importance in materials science, nanotechnology, and medicine. Here we describe the spontaneous in situ formation and secretion of nanostructured protein microfibers in 2D and 3D cell cultures of 3T3 fibroblasts and B104 neuroblastoma cells upon treatment with a micromolar solution of either unmodified terthiophene or terthiophene modified by mono-oxygenation (thiophene → thiophene S-oxide) or dioxygenation (thiophene → thiophene S,S-dioxide) of the inner ring. We demonstrate via metabolic cytotoxicity tests that modification to the S-oxide leads to a severe drop in cell viability. By contrast, unmodified terthiophene and the respective S,S-dioxide cause no harm to the cells and lead to the formation and secretion of fluorescent and electroactive protein-fluorophore coassembled microfibers with a large aspect ratio, a micrometer-sized length and width, and a nanometer-sized thickness, as monitored in real-time by laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). With respect to the microfibers formed by unmodified terthiophene, those formed by the S,S-dioxide display markedly red-shifted fluorescence and an increased n-type character of the material, as shown by macroscopic Kelvin probe in agreement with cyclovoltammetry data. Electrophoretic analyses and Q-TOF mass spectrometry of the isolated microfibers indicate that in all cases the prevalent proteins present are vimentin and histone H4, thus revealing the capability of these fluorophores to selectively coassemble with these proteins. Finally, DFT calculations help to illuminate the fluorophore-fluorophore intermolecular interactions contributing to the formation of the microfibers.

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) has gained attention in recent years for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder that affects ~1 in 15,000 individuals globally. However, the enzyme is easily degraded by proteases, unstable at room temperature, and is currently administered in PKU patients as daily subcutaneous injections. We report here the stabilization of the PAL from Anabaena variabilis, which is currently used to formulate pegvaliase, through incorporation in a silk fibroin matrix. The combination with silk stabilizes PAL at 37 °C. In addition, in vitro studies showed that inclusion in a silk matrix preserves the biological activity of the enzyme in simulated intestinal fluid, which will enable oral administration of PAL to treat PKU.

Background: In countries where Taenia solium is endemic, neurocysticercosis (NCC) is the leading identified cause of seizures, accounting for nearly 30% of all epilepsy cases and up to 2.8 million of Disability Adjusted Life Years. Diagnosis of this condition, however, is strictly reliant on either MRI or CT scan, which are poorly available in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), creating challenges for proper case management and the acquisition of precise neuroepidemiologic data that may guide program and policy development. Methods: Here, we report the case of a 73-year-old woman admitted in a rural hospital in Northern Uganda, who presented with seizures and a progressive inability to walk. She was then diagnosed with NCC after a brain CT scan. Conclusions: This case study represents a rare example of the detection of NCC in a rural district hospital, thus suggesting the potential feasibility of a CT-scan guided diagnostic approach in low resource settings.

© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licenseBackground: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is increasingly recognised as being responsible for a substantial proportion of the global burden of disease. Neurosurgical interventions are an important aspect of care for patients with TBI, but there is little epidemiological data available on this patient population. We aimed to characterise differences in casemix, management, and mortality of patients receiving emergency neurosurgery for TBI across different levels of human development. Methods: We did a prospective observational cohort study of consecutive patients with TBI undergoing emergency neurosurgery, in a convenience sample of hospitals identified by open invitation, through international and regional scientific societies and meetings, individual contacts, and social media. Patients receiving emergency neurosurgery for TBI in each hospital's 30-day study period were all eligible for inclusion, with the exception of patients undergoing insertion of an intracranial pressure monitor only, ventriculostomy placement only, or a procedure for drainage of a chronic subdural haematoma. The primary outcome was mortality at 14 days postoperatively (or last point of observation if the patient was discharged before this time point). Countries were stratified according to their Human Development Index (HDI)—a composite of life expectancy, education, and income measures—into very high HDI, high HDI, medium HDI, and low HDI tiers. Mixed effects logistic regression was used to examine the effect of HDI on mortality while accounting for and quantifying between-hospital and between-country variation. Findings: Our study included 1635 records from 159 hospitals in 57 countries, collected between Nov 1, 2018, and Jan 31, 2020. 328 (20%) records were from countries in the very high HDI tier, 539 (33%) from countries in the high HDI tier, 614 (38%) from countries in the medium HDI tier, and 154 (9%) from countries in the low HDI tier. The median age was 35 years (IQR 24–51), with the oldest patients in the very high HDI tier (median 54 years, IQR 34–69) and the youngest in the low HDI tier (median 28 years, IQR 20–38). The most common procedures were elevation of a depressed skull fracture in the low HDI tier (69 [45%]), evacuation of a supratentorial extradural haematoma in the medium HDI tier (189 [31%]) and high HDI tier (173 [32%]), and evacuation of a supratentorial acute subdural haematoma in the very high HDI tier (155 [47%]). Median time from injury to surgery was 13 h (IQR 6–32). Overall mortality was 18% (299 of 1635). After adjustment for casemix, the odds of mortality were greater in the medium HDI tier (odds ratio [OR] 2·84, 95% CI 1·55–5·2) and high HDI tier (2·26, 1·23–4·15), but not the low HDI tier (1·66, 0·61–4·46), relative to the very high HDI tier. There was significant between-hospital variation in mortality (median OR 2·04, 95% CI 1·17–2·49). Interpretation: Patients receiving emergency neurosurgery for TBI differed considerably in their admission characteristics and management across human development settings. Level of human development was associated with mortality. Substantial opportunities to improve care globally were identified, including reducing delays to surgery. Between-hospital variation in mortality suggests changes at an institutional level could influence outcome and comparative effectiveness research could identify best practices. Funding: National Institute for Health Research Global Health Research Group.

O objetivo deste texto é identificar e analisar dissertações e teses desenvolvidas sobre a temática Educação do Campo, no PPGE/Faculdade de Educação/Universidade Federal de Goiás, período 2018-2019. Construiu-se o Estado da Arte sobre o tema a partir da análise das perspectivas teóricas e epistemológicas desenvolvidas. O recorte foi feito a partir de dois descritores: movimentos sociais, trabalho e educação no/do campo. Nossas questões: que perspectivas teóricas foram escolhidas pelos autores? Qual é o conceito de educação do campo defendido? A análise identificou que as bases epistemológicas endossam uma proposta de Educação do Campo crítica e emancipadora, portanto, teoricamente associada à perspectiva da bildung, ou seja, representante do viés contra-hegemônico.

Introduction:Despite scale up of Option B+, long-term retention of women in HIV care during pregnancy and the postpartum period remains an important challenge. We compared adherence to clinic appointments and antiretroviral therapy (ART) at different follow-up time points between enrolment and 24 months postpartum among pregnant women living with HIV and initiating Option B+ randomized to a peer group support, community-based drug distribution and income-generating intervention called “Friends for Life Circles” (FLCs) versus the standard of care (SOC).Methods:Between 16 May 2016 and 12 September 2017, 540 ART-naïve pregnant women living with HIV at urban and rural health facilities in Uganda were enrolled in the study. Participants were randomized 1:1 to the FLC intervention or SOC and assessed for adherence to prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT) clinic appointments at 6 weeks, 12 and 24 months postpartum, self-reported adherence to ART at 6 weeks, 6 and 24 months postpartum validated by plasma HIV-1 RNA viral load (VL) measured at the same time points, and HIV status and HIV-free survival of infants at 18 months postpartum. We used Log-rank and Chi-Square p-values to test the equality of Kaplan-Meier survival probabilities and hazard rates (HR) for failure to retain in care for any reason by study arm.Results:There was no significant difference in adherence to PMTCT clinic visits or to ART or in median viral loads between FLC and SOC arms at any follow-up time points. Retention in care through the end of study was high in both arms but significantly higher among participants randomized to FLC (86.7%) compared to SOC (79.3%), p=0.022. The adjusted HR of visit dropout was 2.5 times greater among participants randomized to SOC compared to FLC (aHR=2.498, 95% CI: 1.417 – 4.406, p=0.002). Median VL remained < 400 copies/ml in both arms at 6 weeks, 6 and 24 months postpartum.Conclusions:Our findings suggest that programmatic interventions that provide group support, community based ART distribution and income-generation activities may contribute to retention in PMTCT care, HIV-free survival of children born to women living with HIV, and to the elimination of mother to child HIV transmission (MTCT).

A crucial challenge in medicine is choosing which drug (or combination) will be the most advantageous for a particular patient. Usually, drug response rates differ substantially, and the reasons for this response unpredictability remain ambiguous. Consequently, it is central to classify features that contribute to the observed drug response variability. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers with limited therapeutic achievements due to the massive presence of stroma that generates an environment that enables tumor growth, metastasis, and drug resistance. To understand the cancer–stroma cross talk within the tumor microenvironment and to develop personalized adjuvant therapies, there is a necessity for effective approaches that offer measurable data to monitor the effect of drugs at the single-cell level. Here, we develop a computational approach, based on cell imaging, that quantifies the cellular cross talk between pancreatic tumor cells (L3.6pl or AsPC1) and pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs), coordinating their kinetics in presence of the chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine. We report significant heterogeneity in the organization of cellular interactions in response to the drug. For L3.6pl cells, gemcitabine sensibly decreases stroma–stroma interactions but increases stroma–cancer interactions, overall enhancing motility and crowding. In the AsPC1 case, gemcitabine promotes the interactions among tumor cells, but it does not affect stroma–cancer interplay, possibly suggesting a milder effect of the drug on cell dynamics.

The ARGO-YBJ detector, located at the Yangbajing Cosmic Ray Laboratory (4300 m a. s. l., Tibet, China), was a "full coverage" air shower array. The high altitude location and the frequent occurrence of thunderstorms, made ARGO-YBJ suitable to study the effects of atmospheric electric fields (AEF) on secondary cosmic rays. By analyzing the data of the ARGO-YBJ detector recorded during thunderstorms, significant variations of the rate of detected showers have been observed. During 20 thunderstorm episodes in 2012, the variations of the shower rates (both increases and decreases of amplitudes up to a few percent) are found to be correlated to the intensity and polarity of the AEF, and strongly dependent on the primary zenith angle. To understand the observed behavior, Monte Carlo simulations have been performed with CORSIKA and G4argo (a code based on GEANT4). We found that the data are well consistent with simulations, assuming the presence of a uniform electric field in a layer of thickness of 500 m in the atmosphere above the observation level. Due to the AEF accelerates/decelerates and deflects the secondary charged particles (mainly electrons and positrons) according to their charge, modifying the number and position of particles with energy exceeding the detector threshold. For the differences in electron and positron flux, spectrum, and lateral distribution, the AEF has an asymmetric effect on the shower particles, producing significant variations of the particle pattern on the ground, and, consequently, on the rate of detected showers, consistent with observations.

De novo designed protein switches are powerful tools to specifically and sensitively detect diverse targets with simple chemiluminescent readouts.

Learning objectives Background Findings and procedure details Conclusion Personal information and conflict of interest References, Learning objectives: To review the physics of Dual-Energy CT (DECT). To provide a pictorial review of the main clinical applications of DECT with a focus on traumatic and non-traumatic...

The coronavirus disease pandemic has highlighted the need to establish and maintain strong infection prevention and control (IPC) practices, not only to prevent healthcare-associated transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to healthcare workers and patients but also to prevent disruptions of essential healthcare services. In East Africa, where basic IPC capacity in healthcare facilities is limited, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supported rapid IPC capacity building in healthcare facilities in 4 target countries: Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. CDC supported IPC capacity-building initiatives at the healthcare facility and national levels according to each country's specific needs, priorities, available resources, and existing IPC capacity and systems. In addition, CDC established a multicountry learning network to strengthen hospital level IPC, with an emphasis on peer-to-peer learning. We present an overview of the key strategies used to strengthen IPC in these countries and lessons learned from implementation.

Background: Pre-treatment HIV drug resistance is a threat to elimination of mother to child HIV transmission and could lead to virological failure among HIV-positive pregnant women. We analysed genotypic HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) of baseline samples of participants enrolled in the Option B+ clinical trial in Uganda.Methods: HIV-infected pregnant women attending antenatal care were enrolled from Uganda’s National Referral Hospital (Mulago) and Mityana District general hospital and surrounding health centers (HCs). Genotypic HIV testing was performed on blood samples from the first 135 enrolled women out of a subset of 136 participants (25%) who had a baseline VL>1000 copies/mL as one sample failed to amplify.Results: 159/540 (29.4%) had a VL < 1000 copies/ml and 381/540 (70.6%) had a VL >1,000 copies/ml. Of the women with VL>1000 copies/ml, 32 (23.7%) had resistance mutations including 29/135 (21.5%) NNRTI mutations, 6/135 (4.4%) NRTI mutations and 3/135 (2.2%) had both NNRTI and NRTI mutations. The most common NNRTI resistance mutations were: K103KN (5), K103N (5), V179T (4) and E138A (4).Conclusions: One quarter of the HIV-infected pregnant women in this trial at baseline had NNRTI genotypic resistance mutations. Our findings support new WHO guidelines for first-line ART that were changed to dolutegravir-based regimens.

The use of saliva as a diagnostic biofluid has been increasing in recent years, thanks to the identification and validation of new biomarkers and improvements in test accuracy, sensitivity, and precision that enable the development of new noninvasive and cost-effective devices. However, the lack of standardized methods for sample collection, treatment, and storage contribute to the overall variability and lack of reproducibility across analytical evaluations. Furthermore, the instability of salivary biomarkers after sample collection hinders their translation into commercially available technologies for noninvasive monitoring of saliva in home settings. The present review aims to highlight the status of research on the challenges of collecting and using diagnostic salivary samples, emphasizing the methodologies used to preserve relevant proteins, hormones, genomic, and transcriptomic biomarkers during sample handling and analysis.

Background: The loss of health workers through death is of great importance and interest to the public, media and the medical profession as it has very profound social and professional consequences on the delivery of health services. Objective: To describe the profile, causes and patterns of death among medical doctors and dental surgeons in Uganda between 1986 and 2016. Methods: We conducted a retrospective descriptive study of mortality among registered medical doctors and dental surgeons. Information on each case was collected using a standard questionnaire and analysed. Cause of death was determined using pathology reports, and if unavailable, verbal autopsies. We summarized our findings across decades using means and standard deviations, proportions and line graphs as appropriate. Cuzick’s test for trend was used to assess crude change in characteristics across the three decades. To estimate the change in deaths across decades adjusted for age and sex, we fit a logistic regression model, and used the margins command with a dy/dx option. All analyses were done in Stata version 14.0 (Stata Corp, College Station, TX). Results: There were 489 deaths registered between 1986 and 2016. Of these, 59 (12.1%) were female. The mean age at death was 48.8 years (Standard Deviation (SD) 15.1) among male and 40.1 years (SD 12.8) among females. We ascertained the cause of death for 468/489 (95.7%). The most common causes of death were HIV/AIDS (218/468, 46.6%), cancer (68/468, 14.5%), non-communicable diseases (62/48, 13.3%), alcohol related deaths (36, 7.7%), road traffic accidents (34, 7.3%), gunshots (11, 2.4%), among others. After adjusting for age and sex, HIV/AIDs attributable deaths decreased by 33 percentage points between the decade of 1986 to1995 and that of 2006 to 2016 –0.33 (–0.44, –0.21. During the same period, cancer attributable deaths increased by 13 percentage periods 0.13 (0.05,0.20). Conclusion: The main causes of death were HIV/AIDS, cancer, non-communicable diseases, alcohol-related diseases and road traffic accidents. There was a general downward trend in the HIV/AIDS related deaths and a general upward trend in cancer related deaths. Doctors should be targeted for preventive and support services especially for both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Keywords: Profile and causes of death; medical doctors; dental surgeons; Uganda.

Physical computing is becoming mainstream. More people than ever---from artists, makers and entrepreneurs to educators and students---are connecting microcontrollers with sensors and actuators to create new interactive devices. However, physical computing still presents many challenges and demands many skills, spanning electronics, low-level protocols, and software---road blocks that reduce participation. While USB has made connecting peripherals to a personal computing device (PC) trivial, USB components are expensive and require a PC to operate. This makes USB impractical for many physical computing scenarios where cost, size and low power operation are often important.

The measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic ray helium nuclei from 70 GeV to 80 TeV using 4.5 years of data recorded by the DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is reported in this work. A hardening of the spectrum is observed at an energy of about 1.3 TeV, similar to previous observations. In addition, a spectral softening at about 34 TeV is revealed for the first time with large statistics and well controlled systematic uncertainties, with an overall significance of $4.3\sigma$. The DAMPE spectral measurements of both cosmic protons and helium nuclei suggest a particle charge dependent softening energy, although with current uncertainties a dependence on the number of nucleons cannot be ruled out., Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, published in Phys. Rev. Lett. Add one more digit for first three columns in Table S2

The development of nanovectors for precise gene therapy is increasingly focusing on avoiding uncontrolled inflammation while still being able to effectively act on the target sites. Herein, we explore the use of non-viral hybrid polyelectrolyte nanocomplexes (hPECs) for gene delivery, which display good transfection efficacy coupled with non-inflammatory properties. Monodisperse hPECs were produced through a layer-by-layer self-assembling of biocompatible and biodegradable polymers. The resulting nanocomplexes had an inner core characterized by an EGFP-encoding plasmid DNA (pDNA) complexed with linear polyethyleneimine or protamine (PEI or PRM) stabilized with lecithin and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and an outer layer consisting of medium-molecular-weight chitosan (CH) combined with tripolyphosphate (TPP). PEI- and PRM-hPECs were able to efficiently protect the genetic cargo from nucleases and to perform a stimuli-responsive release of pDNA overtime, thus guaranteeing optimal transfection efficiency. Importantly, hPECs revealed a highly cytocompatible and a non-inflammatory profile in vitro. These results were further supported by evidence of the weak and unspecific interactions of serum proteins with both hPECs, thus confirming the antifouling properties of their outer shell. Therefore, these hPECs represent promising candidates for the development of effective, safe nanotools for gene delivery.

The ARGO-YBJ detector, located at the Yangbajing Cosmic Ray Laboratory (4300 m a. s. l., Tibet, China), was a full coverageair shower array. The high altitude location and the frequent occurrence of thunderstorms, made ARGO-YBJ suitable to study the effects of atmospheric electric fields (AEF) on secondary cosmic rays. By analyzing the data of the ARGO-YBJ detector recorded during thunderstorms, significant variations of the rate of detected showers have been observed. During 20 thunderstorm episodes in 2012, the variations of the shower rates (both increases and decreases of amplitudes up to a few percent) are found to be correlated to the intensity and polarity of the AEF, and strongly dependent on the primary zenith angle. To understand the observed behavior, Monte Carlo simulations have been performed with corsika and g4argo (a code based on geant4). We found that the data are well consistent with simulations, assuming the presence of a uniform electric field in a layer of thickness of 500 m in the atmosphere above the observation level. Due to the AEF accelerates/decelerates and deflects the secondary charged particles (mainly electrons and positrons) according to their charge, modifying the number and position of particles with energy exceeding the detector threshold. For the differences in electron and positron flux, spectrum, and lateral distribution, the AEF has an asymmetric effect on the shower particles, producing significant variations of the particle pattern on the ground, and, consequently, on the rate of detected showers, consistent with observations.

Background Uganda accounts for 5% of all malaria cases and deaths reported globally and, in endemic countries, pregnancy is a risk factor for both acquisition of P. falciparum infection and development of severe malaria. In recent years, malaria control has been threatened by COVID-19 pandemic and by the emergence, in Northern Uganda, of both resistance to artemisinin derivatives and to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. Methods In this facility-based, prospective, observational study, pregnant women will be recruited at antenatal-care visits and followed-up until delivery. Collected data will explore the incidence of asymptomatic parasitemia and malaria-related outcomes, as well as the attitudes towards malaria prevention, administration of intermittent preventive treatment, healthcare seeking behavior and use of insecticide-treated nets. A subpopulation of women diagnosed with malaria will be recruited and their blood samples will be analyzed for detection of genetic markers of resistance to artemisinin derivatives and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. Also, to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on malaria care among pregnant women, a retrospective, interrupted-time series will be conducted on at the study sites for the period January 2018 to December 2021. Discussion The present study will explore the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on incidence of malaria and malaria-related adverse outcomes, along with the prevalence of resistance to artemisinin derivatives and to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. To our knowledge, this is the first study aiming to explore the combined effect of these factors on a cohort of pregnant women. Trial registration: This study has been registered on the ClinicalTrials.gov public website on 26th April, 2022. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05348746.

Background: Non-communicable diseases(NCDs) are increasing rapidly in sub-Sahara Africa including Uganda. Knowledge of the effect of long-term antiretroviral therapy(ART) and emergence of NCDs on hospital utilization remain scant. This study aimed to assess the burden of major NCDs and predictors of mortality among hospitalized HIV positive patients in the medical wards at Lira regional referral hospital in Northern Uganda.Method: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional chart review of hospitalized patients from the male and female medical wards between 2016 and 2020. The prevalence of NCDs was estimated and status at discharge determined. Binary and multi-variable regression analyses were performed to determine predictors of mortality with statistical significance set at 0.05 p-value. Results: A total of 445 patient files were examined, with 49 percent (n=218) of them revealing HIV status. Males made up 53% of the total number of patients studied (n=226). In HIV positive patients, the prevalence of at least one NCD, two NCDs, and three or more NCDs multi-morbidity was 73 percent, 16 percent, and 2 percent, respectively. In HIV negative controls, the prevalence of at least one NCD, two NCDs, and three or more NCDs was 62 percent, 28 percent, and 6 percent, respectively, compared to HIV positive controls. Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, chronic lung disease, liver diseases, and mental disorders were found in 19.52 percent (CI: 14.67-25.49) of HIV positive patients versus 36.99 percent (CI: 30.06-44.50), 4.4.65 percent (CI: 02.51-08.51) versus 22.65 percent (CI: 17.57-29.74 p-value= 0.001), 13.55 percent (CI: 09.56-18.87) versus 9. 56 percent (CI: 05.99-14.89), 04.65 percent (02.51-08.47) versus 5.62(03.03-10.18), 27.91 percent (22.27-34.32) versus 29.53 (23.48-36.41), and 26.63 percent (21.10-33.02)versus 06.82 (03.89-11.68,p-value-=Conclusion. HIV positive inpatients had a lower prevalence of major NCDs than HIV negative inpatients, albeit, this was not statistically significant except for diabetes mellitus and mental disorders. Increasing age is a significant predictor of mortality in hospitalized HIV positive patients. Prioritizing screening infrastructure and service capacity to reduce the burden of NCDs in PLHIV is critically important.

Formerly shunned due its notoriety for facilitating illicit trade and transporting criminals across Uganda’s international borders, the boda-boda transport industry gained fame in recent years and has become the second largest employer of youths all over Uganda, after agriculture. Recent scholarship on the bodaboda industry has however, concentrated on the risks embedded in it including high infection rates of HIV among the drivers and the daily accidents reported. Little attention has been paid to the contribution of the industry in youth employment. This paper discusses the role of boda-boda transport industry in solving the problem of unemployment among the youths in Uganda. The author interviewed seventeen boda-boda drivers in Uganda and thirty-four of their family members to establish how this transport business has impacted on employment opportunities, financial independence and globalisation of youths. The study revealed that whereas many youths have dropped out of school to take up the boda-boda business, profits of this trade have facilitated the education of some young people in Uganda and enabled them to globally connect with youths across the globe. The study recommends sensitisation, business skills training as well as adult and distant education opportunities for the youthful motorcycle drivers

This article results of a reflection about an experience developed in the State of Goias: Pacto pela Alfabetizacao na Idade Certa – PNAIC (Pact for Literacy at the Right Age). The Project was created in 2013, by the Ministry of the Education and Culture – MEC with the propose to qualify teachers who work in the circle of literacy, with the purpose to help them to reflect about concepts, practices and the meaning of the process of literacy, giving some contribution to a national debate about the subject. In Brazil, the training of literacy teachers is still poor, which impacts, above all on the results demonstrated. In the State of Goias, this program was responsible for the qualification of fourteen thousand literacy teachers, coordinators and other school professionals. It was understood that without the investment of this action, it would not be possible to insert the literacy teachers in the discussion and implementation of new practices and methodologies. In this text, and adopting bibliographic revision as methodology, we reflected how enlightenment can contribute to this process, standing out to the interdisciplinarity. The Program used material specifically developed for the PNAIC, so this article also addresses the perspective of interdisciplinarity adopted in the elaboration of support materials – PNAIC notebooks – and the support materials - box games and activities, adopted as support in the formation process.

Este artigo pretende discorrer sobre como pensar a formação humana, a partir do relato de educadores, em um momento em que as relações humanas foram abaladas pela pandemia do Coronavírus, cuja letalidade e grau de contaminação atingiram de forma comunitária sobre a população mundial. Queremos analisar os impactos, em termos de educação, desses processos advindos da interatividade, da restrição das relações sociais presenciais e da expansão de práticas não comuns na civilidade moderna, que são as atividades remotas. Para fins deste texto, convém inquirir: como pensar o mundo a partir de novas interações? Como pensar a formação humana em meio ao trabalho remoto? Para tanto, utilizaremos para a escrita deste artigo uma análise a partir de categorias, como vida, trabalho e educação, apresentadas nas falas das autoras, que se propuseram a avaliar suas práticas nesse momento. Pretendemos com isso, contribuir para o debate sobre o tema, alargando as discussões já feitas.

The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical indication for laparotomy, the intra-operative findings and the 30 days post-operative outcome of laparotomy in Gulu university teaching hospitals.

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) has gained attention in recent years for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder that affects ∼1 in 15,000 individuals globally. However, the enzyme is easily degraded by proteases, unstable at room temperature, and is currently administered in PKU patients as daily subcutaneous injections. We report here the stabilization of the PAL from Anabaena variabilis, which is currently used to formulate pegvaliase, through incorporation in a silk fibroin matrix. The combination with silk stabilizes PAL at 37 °C. In addition, in vitro studies showed that inclusion in a silk matrix preserves the biological activity of the enzyme in simulated intestinal fluid, enabling the oral administration of pegvaliase for the treatment of PKU.

The complexity of the microenvironment effects on cell response, show accumulating evidence that glioblastoma (GBM) migration and invasiveness are influenced by the mechanical rigidity of their surroundings. The epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a well-recognized driving force of the invasive behavior of cancer. However, the primary mechanisms of EMT initiation and progression remain unclear. We have previously showed that certain substrate stiffness can selectively stimulate human GBM U251-MG and GL15 glioblastoma cell lines motility. The present study unifies several known EMT mediators to uncover the reason of the regulation and response to these stiffnesses. Our results revealed that changing the rigidity of the mechanical environment tuned the response of both cell lines through change in morphological features, epithelial-mesenchymal markers (E-, N-Cadherin), EGFR and ROS expressions in an interrelated manner. Specifically, a stiffer microenvironment induced a mesenchymal cell shape, a more fragmented morphology, higher intracellular cytosolic ROS expression and lower mitochondrial ROS. Finally, we observed that cells more motile showed a more depolarized mitochondrial membrane potential. Unravelling the process that regulates GBM cells’ infiltrative behavior could provide new opportunities for identification of new targets and less invasive approaches for treatment.

Molecular recognition is a useful property shared by various molecules, such as antibodies, aptamers and molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). It allows these molecules to be potentially involved in many applications including biological and pharmaceutical research, diagnostics, theranostics, therapy and drug delivery. Antibodies, naturally produced by plasma cells, have been exploited for this purpose, but they present noticeable drawbacks, above all production cost and time. Therefore, several research studies for similar applications have been carried out about MIPs and the main studies are reported in this review. MIPs, indeed, are more versatile and cost-effective than conventional antibodies, but the lack of toxicity studies and their scarce use for practical applications, make it that further investigations on this kind of molecules need to be conducted.

In 2011 ARGO-YBJ experiment has reported a work to study the absolute rigidity scale of the primary cosmic ray particles based on the Moon's shadow observation. Given the progress in high energy hadronic interaction models with LHC data, in cosmic ray chemical composition measurement and in experimental data accumulation, more updates can be researched. This paper aims to further disentangle the composition dependence in absolute-energy-scale calibration by using specific moon-shadow data which mainly is comprised of light component cosmic rays. Results show that, 17% energy scale error is estimated from 3 TeV to 50 TeV. To validate the performance of this technique, the light component cosmic ray spectrum in the same energy region is shown. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gene therapy can be described as the direct transfer of genetic material to cells or tissue for the treatment of inherited and acquired diseases. Viral vectors have long been proven to be the most efficient and stable vectors for transgene delivery into the cell, but they still have some safety issues. Non-viral nanosystems can overcome these safety problems and limitations of viral vectors. FDA-approved polymers are particularly attractive for gene delivery applications. Here, sustained release of plasmid DNA encoding the EGFP protein, used as a model, showed efficient delivery through new capsid-like biodegradable polyglycolic acid (PGA) nanoparticles (NPs). PGA NPs showed a mean size of 135 nm, with a polyhedron structure. Prior to loading into the PGA NPs, the pT7-EGFP plasmid was complexed with pH- and enzyme-responsive polycation polymers in order to guarantee high loading, stability, and controlled plasmid release over time. Our PGA NPs are hemocompatible, non-cytotoxic and have the ability to protect the gene cargo from DNase and serum action. Further, our PGA NPs exhibited a controlled and sustained transfection of cells that grow in suspension (human T lymphocytes, Jurkat) and adherent cell lines (human neuroblastoma cells, SH-SY5Y, and human cervix carcinoma cells, HeLa), with respect to transfection with commercial Lipofectamine 3000. In addition, our PGA NPs showed the ability to penetrate into 3D neurospheres, allowing transfection of inner cells. Our capsid-like NPs, thanks to their properties of biocompatibility, biodegradability, hemocompatibility, and sustained plasmid release, can be used as an efficient tool for transfection to overcome the problems of viral vectors.

The tumour microenvironment (TME) strongly influences tumorigenesis and metastasis. Two of the most characterized properties of the TME are acidosis and hypoxia, both of which are considered hallmarks of tumours as well as critical factors in response to anticancer treatments. Currently, various imaging approaches exist to measure acidosis and hypoxia in the TME, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography and optical imaging. In this review, we will focus on the latest fluorescent-based methods for optical sensing of cell metabolism and MRI as diagnostic imaging tools applied both in vitro and in vivo. The primary emphasis will be on describing the current and future uses of systems that can measure intra- and extra-cellular pH and oxygen changes at high spatial and temporal resolution. In addition, the suitability of these approaches for mapping tumour heterogeneity, and assessing response or failure to therapeutics will also be covered., Comment: 36 pages, 13 figures

Nano-delivery systems represent one of the most studied fields, thanks to the associated improvement in the treatment of human diseases. The functionality of nanostructures is a crucial point, which the effectiveness of nanodrugs depends on. A hybrid approach strategy using synthetic nanoparticles (NPs) and erythrocytes offers an optimal blend of natural and synthetic materials. This, in turn, allows medical practitioners to exploit the combined advantages of erythrocytes and NPs. Erythrocyte-based drug delivery systems have been investigated for their biocompatibility, as well as the long circulation time allowed by specific surface receptors that inhibit immune clearance. In this review, we will discuss several methods—whole erythrocytes as drug carriers, red blood cell membrane-camouflaged nanoparticles and nano-erythrosomes (NERs)—while paying attention to their application and specific preparation methods. The ability to target cells makes erythrocytes excellent drug delivery systems. They can carry a wide range of therapeutic molecules while also acting as bioreactors; thus, they have many applications in therapy and in the diagnosis of many diseases.

Pyranine (HPTS) is a remarkably interesting pH‐sensitive dye that has been used for plenty of applications. Its high quantum yield and extremely sensitive ratiometric fluorescence against pH change makes it a very favorable for pH‐sensing applications and the development of pH nano‐/microsensors. However, its strong negative charge and lack of easily modifiable functional groups makes it difficult to use with charged substrates such as silica. This study reports a methodology for noncovalent HPTS immobilization on silica microparticles that considers the retention of pH sensitivity as well as the long‐term stability of the pH microsensors. The study emphasizes the importance of surface charge for governing the sensitivity of the immobilized HPTS dye molecules on silica microparticles. The importance of the immobilization methodology, which preserves the sensitivity and stability of the microsensors, is also assessed., In a one‐step synthesis, silica microparticles with efficiently immobilized pyranine (HPTS) dye gave extremely sensitive fluorescent ratiometric pH sensors. Immobilizing dye molecules on oppositely charged silica microparticles by using a positively charged silica shell preserves HPTS′S pH sensitivity, and also enhances the stability of the sensor particles. The effect of microparticle surface charge manipulation on enhancing the pH sensitivity without perturbing the stability and cytocompatibility is explored.

Resistive Plate Chambers have largely been used in High Energy Physics and Cosmic Ray research. In view of using this detector for calorimetry applications it is important to know the maximum measurable particle density, or its intrinsic linearity limit, which is tightly related to the dimension of the discharge region. In this paper we report the results of measurements performed at the Beam Test Facility (INFN National Laboratory of Frascati, Italy) where the intrinsic linearity of bakelite RPCs operated in streamer mode has been tested at different impinging particle densities.

DAMPE satellite has directly measured the cosmic ray proton spectrum from 40 GeV to 100 TeV and revealed a new feature at about 13.6 TeV., The precise measurement of the spectrum of protons, the most abundant component of the cosmic radiation, is necessary to understand the source and acceleration of cosmic rays in the Milky Way. This work reports the measurement of the cosmic ray proton fluxes with kinetic energies from 40 GeV to 100 TeV, with 2 1/2 years of data recorded by the DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE). This is the first time that an experiment directly measures the cosmic ray protons up to ~100 TeV with high statistics. The measured spectrum confirms the spectral hardening at ~300 GeV found by previous experiments and reveals a softening at ~13.6 TeV, with the spectral index changing from ~2.60 to ~2.85. Our result suggests the existence of a new spectral feature of cosmic rays at energies lower than the so-called knee and sheds new light on the origin of Galactic cosmic rays.

Introduction: Many HIV-positive individuals in Africa have advanced disease when initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) so have high risks of opportunistic infections and death. The REALITY trial found that an enhanced-prophylaxis package including fluconazole reduced mortality by 27% in individuals starting ART with CD4

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a space-borne particle detector designed to probe electrons and gamma-rays in the few GeV to 10 TeV energy range, as well as cosmic-ray proton and nuclei components between 10 GeV and 100 TeV. The silicon–tungsten tracker–converter is a crucial component of DAMPE. It allows the direction of incoming photons converting into electron–positron pairs to be estimated, and the trajectory and charge (Z) of cosmic-ray particles to be identified. It consists of 768 silicon micro-strip sensors assembled in 6 double layers with a total active area of 6.6 m 2 . Silicon planes are interleaved with three layers of tungsten plates, resulting in about one radiation length of material in the tracker. Internal alignment parameters of the tracker have been determined on orbit, with non-showering protons and helium nuclei. We describe the alignment procedure and present the position resolution and alignment stability measurements.

Embolization is a catheter-based minimally invasive procedure that deliberately occludes diseased blood vessels for treatment purposes. We report a novel silk based embolic material (SEM) that was developed and optimized to provide tandem integration of both embolization and the delivery of therapeutics. Natural silk was processed into fibroin proteins of varying lengths and combined with charged nanoclay particles to allow visibility and injectability using clinical catheters as small as 600 microns in diameter at lengths >100 cm. SEMs loaded with fluorochrome labeled bovine albumin and Nivolumab, which is among the most used immunotherapy drugs world-wide, demonstrated a sustained release profile in vitro over 28 days. In a porcine renal survival model, SEMs with labeled albumin and Nivolumab successfully embolized porcine arteries without recanalization and led to the delivery of both albumin and Nivolumab into the interstitial space of the renal cortex. Mechanistically, we show that tissue delivery is most optimal when the internal elastic membrane of the embolized artery is disrupted. SEM is a potential next-generation multifunctional embolic agent that can achieve embolization and deliver a wide range of therapeutics to treat vascular diseases including tumors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.