Search

Over the past decade, considerable progress has been made in the control, elimination, and eradication of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Despite these advances, most NTD programs have recently experienced important setbacks; for example, NTD interventions were some of the most frequently and severely impacted by service disruptions due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Mathematical modeling can help inform selection of interventions to meet the targets set out in the NTD road map 2021-2030, and such studies should prioritize questions that are relevant for decision-makers, especially those designing, implementing, and evaluating national and subnational programs. In September 2022, the World Health Organization hosted a stakeholder meeting to identify such priority modeling questions across a range of NTDs and to consider how modeling could inform local decision making. Here, we summarize the outputs of the meeting, highlight common themes in the questions being asked, and discuss how quantitative modeling can support programmatic decisions that may accelerate progress towards the 2030 targets.

Purpose: To explore preservice teachers' (PSTs) implementation of cooperative learning (CL) during their school-based student-teaching after undertaking a CL course in a Chinese physical education teacher education program. Method: An interpretive qualitative case study design gathered data from eight PSTs using classroom observations, semistructured interviews, reflective journals, instructional materials, and field notes. Interactive cycling coding was used to analyze the data. Findings: The two themes, "putting five key elements into practice" and "learning to facilitate with CL," convey how the PSTs implemented the procedures of CL and adapted CL to the contexts they were teaching in. Discussion and Conclusions: The eight PSTs appropriately implemented CL and contextualized CL practice in their classrooms. They shifted their teaching approaches away from direct instruction and toward more independent, pupil group-based tasks. This growth is particularly important in the Chinese physical education context, where policies advocate for CL yet student-centered teaching which is rarely seen in practice.

Purpose: Utilizing social constructivist learning theory and a conceptual framework for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), this self-study explores how I as a teacher-researcher intentionally evolved my approach to teaching SEL in a high school Physical Education setting. Method: Data were collected over twenty 75-min lessons over 15 weeks. One critical friend interview, 20 post-teaching reflections, 18 observations, and 22 journal entries were conducted. A deductive and inductive approach utilizing the Miles, Huberman, and Saldana Framework for Qualitative Data Analysis was implemented. Results: Findings demonstrate how aligning my teaching with a contemporary framework led to a more explicit and intentional focus on SEL within my already utilized repertoire of pedagogies. Discussion/Conclusion: Incorporating self-study structure as a teacher-researcher led me to understand how I evolved and felt better equipped to teach for targeted SEL competencies and skills to further compliment the teaching of core Physical Education content.

BACKGROUND: Detailed descriptions of clinical signs associated with radiological findings of the caudal cervical vertebral column are not available. OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESES: Describe the clinical features associated with neck pain or stiffness, neck-related thoracic limb lameness, proprioceptive ataxia consistent with a cervicothoracic spinal cord or nerve lesion, and their frequency of occurrence compared with control horses. ANIMALS: A total of 223 Warmblood horses. METHODS: Case-control study. Controls and cases were recruited prospectively. All horses underwent predetermined lameness and neurologic examinations. The frequency of occurrence of each clinical feature was compared between cases and controls and relative risk (RR) were calculated. RESULTS: Ninety-six cases and 127 controls were included. Forty-seven (49%) of the cases were classified as neurologic, 31 (32.3%) had thoracic limb lameness, and 18 (18.7%) had neck stiffness or pain or both. Focal caudal cervical muscle atrophy (46, 47.9%), hypoesthesia (38, 39.6%), patchy sweating (16, 16.7%), hyperesthesia (11, 11.5%), and pain upon firm pressure applied over the caudal cervical articular process joints and transverse processes (58, 60.4%) were only observed in cases (P

Abstract Urbanizing global populations spend over 90% of their time indoors where microbiome abundance and diversity are low. Chronic exposure to microbiomes with low abundance and diversity have demonstrated negative long-term impacts on human health. Sequencing-based analyses of environmental nucleic acids are critical to understanding the impact of the indoor microbiome on human health, however low DNA yields indoors, alongside sample collection and processing inconsistencies, currently challenge study replicability. This study presents a comparative assessment of a novel, passive, easily replicable sampling strategy using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheets alongside a representative swab-based collection protocol. Deployable, customizable PDMS films designed for whole-sample insertion into standardized extraction kits demonstrated 43% higher DNA yields per sample, and 76% higher yields per cm2 of sampler over swab-based protocols. These results indicate that this accessible, scalable method enables sufficient DNA collection to comprehensively evaluate indoor microbiome exposures and potential human health impacts using smaller, more space efficient samplers, representing an attractive alternative to swab-based collection. In addition, this process reduces the manual steps required for microbiome sampling which could address inter-study variability, transform the current microbiome sampling paradigm, and ultimately benefit the replicability and accessibility of microbiome exposure studies.

Abstract Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype is characterized with higher EMT/stemness properties and immune suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Women with advanced TNBC exhibit aggressive disease and have limited treatment options. Although immune suppressive TME is implicated in driving aggressive properties of basal/TNBC subtype and therapy resistance, effectively targeting it remains a challenge. Minnelide, a prodrug of triptolide currently being tested in clinical trials, has shown anti-tumorigenic activity in multiple malignancies via targeting super enhancers, Myc and anti-apoptotic pathways such as HSP70. Distinct super-enhancer landscape drives cancer stem cells (CSC) in TNBC subtype while inducing immune suppressive TME. We show that Minnelide selectively targets CSCs in human and murine TNBC cell lines compared to cell lines of luminal subtype by targeting Myc and HSP70. Minnelide in combination with cyclophosphamide significantly reduces the tumor growth and eliminates metastasis by reprogramming the tumor microenvironment and enhancing cytotoxic T cell infiltration in 4T1 tumor-bearing mice. Resection of residual tumors following the combination treatment leads to complete eradication of disseminated tumor cells as all mice are free of local and distant recurrences. All control mice showed recurrences within 3 weeks of post-resection while single Minnelide treatment delayed recurrence and one mouse was free of tumor. We provide evidence that Minnelide targets tumor intrinsic pathways and reprograms the immune suppressive microenvironment. Our studies also suggest that Minnelide in combination with cyclophosphamide may lead to durable responses in patients with basal/TNBC subtype warranting its clinical investigation.

Objective: To examine the associations of dimensions of masculinity--respect/toughness and anti-femininity/hypersexuality--with sexual risk behaviors and protective behavioral intentions and the effects of awareness of anti-Blackness. Participants: 127 Black heterosexual men were recruited from four Historically Black Colleges and Universities and one Minority Serving Institution in the South. Methods: Students completed an online survey as part of a pilot study to assess the sexual health needs of Black college students. Results: Our results indicated that respect/toughness and anti-femininity/hypersexuality were significant correlates of protective behavioral intentions. After accounting for awareness of anti-Blackness and age, anti-femininity/hypersexuality was a significant correlate of sexual risk behaviors. Conclusions: Our study highlights the complex multi-dimensional construct of masculinity and how forms of anti-Blackness continue to influence HIV vulnerability. Therefore, there is a need to include structural factors within research to better understand behaviors among Black college men and incorporate dimensions of masculinity that promote healthy sexual behaviors in interventions and programming.

Background: It has been widely accepted that Sports-based Youth Development (SBYD) programs are potentially ideal contexts to develop children socially and emotionally. However, there is a limited empirical examination on how validated models-based practices could be harnessed in SBYD programs to promote children's social and emotional development. This study was conducted in an SBYD program collaborated by a local soccer foundation and a church within a city in the mid-south of the US. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the children's experiences of social and emotional learning (SEL) in an SBYD program grounded in the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model. Methods: The study adopted a case study design (Stake, R. E. 2006. "Multiple case study analysis." New York, NY: Guilford.). Data were collected over 30 weeks, including individual interviews, focus group interviews, and field notes. Seventeen middle school boys (n = 17) from low-income families participated in this study. Inductive analysis and constant comparison were utilized for data analysis (Miles, M. B., A. M. Huberman, and J. Saldana. 2014. "Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook." London: Sage.). Findings: Four main themes were drawn from the interviews with the children regarding their experiences of SEL in the current program: "love this program," "support and teamwork," "helps me understand," "when I go back to school." Conclusion: Findings from this study provided additional evidence that TPSR is an effective pedagogical practice that promotes children's SEL in SBYD programs. This study recommends more SBYD programs grounded in TPSR should be organized and provided for children during this uncertain and challenging time. This study calls for joint efforts between programs, schools, and families to create a consistent environment for children to practice and experience SEL.

Despite growing attention on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in education settings (Jones, S. M., McGarrah, M. W., & Kahn, J. (2019). Social and emotional learning: A principled science of human development in context. "Educational Psychologist," 54(3), 129-143. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2019.1625776), there also has been an increasing concern that the existing understanding of SEL is not based on diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural perspectives (Hurd, E., Brinegar, K., & Harrison, L. (2021). Equity-based social emotional learning (SEL): A critical lens for moving forward. "Middle School Journal," 52(3), 2-3. https://doi.org/10.1080/00940771.2021.1893994). The purpose of this research was to explore teacher educators' perspectives on promoting an equity-based approach for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in physical education teacher education (PETE) from an international perspective. Using an international comparative case study design (Penn, R. (2019). "International comparative case studies: Multiple methods in action." Sage.), 18 teacher educators were recruited from 10 different countries (Australia; Brazil; Cyprus; China; Finland; Germany; Ireland; New Zealand; South Korea; The United States). Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted using a video-conferencing system to collect data on the participants' perspectives on promoting equity-based SEL in PETE. Using a systematic process of inductive data analysis by Miles et al. (Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2014). "Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook." Sage.), four findings were generated: (a) "Respecting differences with culturally responsive pedagogy," (b) "Embedding diversity across different phases," (c) "Critical introspection on self and others," and (d) "Having intentional and difficult conversations." Based on the findings, more research needs to be conducted in the future to investigate how PE teachers incorporate equity elements into their SEL practices in real-time school settings.

Concerns about the role of technology and the quality of student writing in higher education are not new. Historically, writing scholars have been at the forefront of initiatives that scrutinise and integrate new technologies in higher education. This article contends that writing scholars are again uniquely equipped to assist students, teachers in all disciplines, and institutions of higher education in navigating the challenges created by the public availability of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Adopting a dialogical approach, the article brings together six scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds within the broad umbrella of writing studies. Through the lens of writing scholarship, this chorus of critical voices illuminates the important questions posed by, and possible responses to, AI in higher education. Although AI complicates key issues in higher education such as academic integrity, assessment, and authorship, writing scholarship provides an essential framework for educators to respond to these challenges. Collectively, these scholars map the history of writing scholars' responses to technological change in higher education and suggest how writing scholars can contribute to the debates and discussions concerning the impact of AI on higher education.

BACKGROUND: The Global Typhoid Genomics Consortium was established to bring together the typhoid research community to aggregate and analyse Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (Typhi) genomic data to inform public health action. This analysis, which marks 22 years since the publication of the first Typhi genome, represents the largest Typhi genome sequence collection to date (n=13,000). METHODS: This is a meta-analysis of global genotype and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) determinants extracted from previously sequenced genome data and analysed using consistent methods implemented in open analysis platforms GenoTyphi and Pathogenwatch. RESULTS: Compared with previous global snapshots, the data highlight that genotype 4.3.1 (H58) has not spread beyond Asia and Eastern/Southern Africa; in other regions, distinct genotypes dominate and have independently evolved AMR. Data gaps remain in many parts of the world, and we show the potential of travel-associated sequences to provide informal sentinel surveillance for such locations. The data indicate that ciprofloxacin non-susceptibility (>1 resistance determinant) is widespread across geographies and genotypes, with high-level ciprofloxacin resistance (≥3 determinants) reaching 20% prevalence in South Asia. Extensively drug-resistant (XDR) typhoid has become dominant in Pakistan (70% in 2020) but has not yet become established elsewhere. Ceftriaxone resistance has emerged in eight non-XDR genotypes, including a ciprofloxacin-resistant lineage (4.3.1.2.1) in India. Azithromycin resistance mutations were detected at low prevalence in South Asia, including in two common ciprofloxacin-resistant genotypes. CONCLUSIONS: The consortiums aim is to encourage continued data sharing and collaboration to monitor the emergence and global spread of AMR Typhi, and to inform decision-making around the introduction of typhoid conjugate vaccines (TCVs) and other prevention and control strategies. FUNDING: No specific funding was awarded for this meta-analysis. Coordinators were supported by fellowships from the European Union (ZAD received funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 845681), the Wellcome Trust (SB, Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship), and the National Health and Medical Research Council (DJI is supported by an NHMRC Investigator Grant [GNT1195210]).