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The number of public-school students with disabilities has increased in the last decade, as has support for teaching students with and without disabilities in the same setting. Consequently, sufficient adapted physical education (APE) training for pre-service physical education teachers is critical to ensure meaningful physical education experiences for all students. Few studies on how physical education teacher education (PETE) programs are preparing future physical educators to teach students with disabilities exist. The purposes of this study were to preliminarily describe current undergraduate APE introductory courses, including: (a) instructor demographics, (b) course characteristics, (c) course content and (d) practicum experiences. Twenty-six faculty members currently teaching an introduction to APE course completed a 35-item web-based survey (26% response rate). Demographic characteristics of instructors were mainly homogenous, suggesting a lack of diversity among those teaching these courses. Twenty-four reported their program offered a practicum. Varying coverage of APE concepts explicates important content gaps in curricula that may hinder the quality of physical education services for students with disabilities. These findings deepen the understanding of who is instructing the courses, how the APE introductory courses are being taught across the US, and can serve as a reference for creating and improving PETE programs.

Radical cure of Plasmodium vivax malaria must include elimination of quiescent "hypnozoite" forms in the liver; however, the only FDA-approved treatments are contraindicated in many vulnerable populations. To identify new drugs and drug targets, we screened the Repurposing, Focused Rescue, and Accelerated Medchem library against P. vivax liver stages and identified the DNA methyltransferase inhibitors hydralazine and cadralazine as active against hypnozoites. We then used bisulfite sequencing and immunostaining to identify cytosine modifications in the infectious stage (sporozoites) and liver stages, respectively. A subsequent screen of epigenetic inhibitors revealed hypnozoites are broadly sensitive to histone acetyltransferase and methyltransferase inhibitors, indicating that several epigenetic mechanisms are likely modulating hypnozoite persistence. Our data present an avenue for the discovery and development of improved radical cure antimalarials.

In September 2022, the Drug Discovery Unit at the University of Dundee, UK, organised an international meeting at the Wellcome Collection in London to explore the current clinical situation and challenges associated with treating schistosomiasis. The aim of this meeting was to discuss the need for new treatments in view of the clinical situation and to ascertain what the key requirements would be for any potential new anti-schistosomals. This information will be essential to inform ongoing drug discovery efforts for schistosomiasis. We also discussed the potential drug discovery pathway and associated criteria for progressing compounds to the clinic. To date, praziquantel (PZQ) is the only drug available to treat all species causing schistosomiasis, but it is often unable to completely clear parasites from an infected patient, partially due to its inactivity against juvenile worms. PZQ-mediated mass drug administration campaigns conducted in endemic areas (e.g., sub-Saharan Africa, where schistosomiasis is primarily prevalent) have contributed to reducing the burden of disease but will not eliminate the disease as a public health problem. The potential for Schistosoma to develop resistance towards PZQ, as the sole treatment available, could become a concern. Consequently, new anthelmintic medications are urgently needed, and this Perspective aims to capture some of the learnings from our discussions on the key criteria for new treatments.

Public school administrators in the United States are required to supervise special education services, which include physical education and adapted physical education (APE). Although school administrators supervise and provide resources to support APE services, APE teachers have indicated that school administrators often interfere with their day-to-day practices and instruction. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine school administrators' beliefs, attitudes, and intentions toward supporting APE within their school. Using a qualitative description approach, guided by the theory of planned behavior, nine building principals from California were interviewed about their perceptions and past experiences with APE. A thematic analysis enabled the authors to construct three interconnected themes: (1) APE teachers and services are valued, yet not prioritized; (2) stakeholders' support of APE can impact principals' attitudes and support of APE; yet, many remain indifferent regarding support of APE; and (3) lack of knowledge, resources, and funding prevents principals from providing adequate support to APE services and teachers. These findings emphasize both the support and barriers building principals often contribute to APE teachers' service delivery. Additionally, these findings highlight the important role administrators have in supporting APE teachers and creating a culture where APE services and teachers are valued. Future research designed to improve attitudes among school administrators toward APE is necessary. Moreover, to provide essential resources for effective APE service delivery, systematic and theoretically driven interventions that link knowledge to fill the APE knowledge gap among school administrators are warranted.

Background: Physical educators often reported being ill-equipped to teach autistic children. Furthermore, autistic children often report having negative experiences in physical education. The physical educator is key to shaping these experiences; however, research examining these educators' perspective towards teaching autistic children is limited. Aims: The purpose of this study was to explore physical educators' experiences working with autistic children. Method: A sequential explanatory mixed methods approach was utilized by first administering a questionnaire to physical educators about their perceptions towards teaching autistic children, and second, conducting in-depth interviews with a subset of the sample. Results: Survey data revealed that participants perceived that a variety of autistic characteristics challenging their ability to effectively teach autistic children. These challenges were further elaborated on in qualitative data in the theme of 'autism is a spectrum: an array of challenges'. Moreover, participants discussed strategies employed to effectively work with autistic children (theme 2: 'best practices'), including the importance of relationship building (theme 3: 'relationship building is vital'). Conclusions/Implications: Although physical educators are using various evidence-based practices and hold some views that the challenges autistic children face are partly attributed to society and the structures within it, a medical model viewpoint continues to be prominent. Future research should examine how physical educators form their views towards teaching autistic children.

Background: While preliminary research has indicated that adapted physical education (APE) teachers experience marginalization, little research has examined how specific relationships factor into these experiences. Purpose: This study sought to examine APE teachers' experiences and perceptions of school administrators. Methodology: Occupational socialization theory was used to guide semistructured interviews with 24 APE teachers about their relationship with administrators. Results: A collaborative approach to qualitative data analysis was used to construct four themes: (1) APE teachers are socialized to be marginal and settle for inadequate support; (2) negative impressions of general physical education led to a similar outlook on APE; (3) administrators focus on compliance with mandates over quality practice in APE; and (4) support depends on administrative effort, and many administrators look uncomfortable in the gym. Conclusion: Although these findings shed light on the complex, and often absent, relationship between APE teachers and their administrators, still additional research is needed.

School administrators can facilitate various funds and resources for quality physical education, or can present various obstacles and barriers to physical education teachers and programs. School administrators that support and prioritize physical education can allocate adequate funding for equipment, facilities, and resources. Additionally, they can ensure that physical educators have the necessary training and support to create engaging and effective curricula and lessons. Conversely, school administrators that do not value physical education can negatively impact programming by reducing funding for physical education. They can also create cultures that leads teachers and students to diminish the impact of physical education, simply by holding a low value of it.

In vitro evolution and whole genome analysis were used to comprehensively identify the genetic determinants of chemical resistance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Sequence analysis identified many genes contributing to the resistance phenotype as well as numerous amino acids in potential targets that may play a role in compound binding. Our work shows that compound-target pairs can be conserved across multiple species. The set of 25 most frequently mutated genes was enriched for transcription factors, and for almost 25 percent of the compounds, resistance was mediated by one of 100 independently derived, gain-of-function SNVs found in a 170 amino acid domain in the two Zn2C6 transcription factors YRR1 and YRM1 (p

Identifying tools to reinforce content on teaching children with visual impairments (VI) is needed to better inform future physical educators as children with VI often have poor physical education (PE) experiences. Content acquisition podcasts (CAPs), podcasts created with instructional design principles and expert-developed content, may provide preservice PE teachers with knowledge and confidence needed to properly teach children with VI. The purpose of this investigation was to compare knowledge and self-efficacy differences from pre- to postintervention among a control group, a textbook chapter group, and a CAPs group. A knowledge and self-efficacy assessment was developed through a modified Delphi method. The CAPs participants showed significantly higher knowledge gains compared with other groups. The CAPs group revealed significantly higher self-efficacy gain when compared with the control but did not significantly differ from one another. The textbook group did not significantly differ from the control group. Implications for future research and suggestions for practitioners are discussed.

The ongoing pandemic caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), necessitates strategies to identify prophylactic and therapeutic drug candidates for rapid clinical deployment. Here, we describe a screening pipeline for the discovery of efficacious SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors. We screen a best-in-class drug repurposing library, ReFRAME, against two high-throughput, high-content imaging infection assays: one using HeLa cells expressing SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 and the other using lung epithelial Calu-3 cells. From nearly 12,000 compounds, we identify 49 (in HeLa-ACE2) and 41 (in Calu-3) compounds capable of selectively inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 replication. Notably, most screen hits are cell-line specific, likely due to different virus entry mechanisms or host cell-specific sensitivities to modulators. Among these promising hits, the antivirals nelfinavir and the parent of prodrug MK-4482 possess desirable in vitro activity, pharmacokinetic and human safety profiles, and both reduce SARS-CoV-2 replication in an orthogonal human differentiated primary cell model. Furthermore, MK-4482 effectively blocks SARS-CoV-2 infection in a hamster model. Overall, we identify direct-acting antivirals as the most promising compounds for drug repurposing, additional compounds that may have value in combination therapies, and tool compounds for identification of viral host cell targets.

Filarial worms cause multiple debilitating diseases in millions of people worldwide, including river blindness. Currently available drugs reduce transmission by killing larvae (microfilariae), but there are no effective cures targeting the adult parasites (macrofilaricides) which survive and reproduce in the host for very long periods. To identify effective macrofilaricides, we carried out phenotypic screening of a library of 2121 approved drugs for clinical use against adult Brugia pahangi and prioritized the hits for further studies by integrating those results with a computational prioritization of drugs and associated targets. This resulted in the identification of 18 hits with anti-macrofilaricidal activity, of which two classes, azoles and aspartic protease inhibitors, were further expanded upon. Follow up screening against Onchocerca spp. (adult Onchocerca ochengi and pre-adult O. volvulus) confirmed activity for 13 drugs (the majority having IC50 < 10 μM), and a counter screen of a subset against L. loa microfilariae showed the potential to identify selective drugs that prevent adverse events when co-infected individuals are treated. Stage specific activity was also observed. Many of these drugs are amenable to structural optimization, and also have known canonical targets, making them promising candidates for further optimization that can lead to identifying and characterizing novel anti-macrofilarial drugs.

Special education administrators have an influence over adapted physical education (APE) services, however little research to date has assessed special education administrators' knowledge of APE services. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine special education administrators' knowledge of APE services. Fifty-one special education administrators completed a 21-question content knowledge test about key areas within the field of APE. A series of exploratory t-tests were used to determine whether their overall test scores differed significantly by a variety of demographic variables (e.g., gender, prior APE training). In addition, a repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine whether there were any significant differences between the three subsections of the test. Participants' overall test scores were approximately 40% (M = 8.41, SD = 2.28), which was similar to all three sub-sections within the test ('federal laws and APE' = 43%, M = 3.04, SD = 1.34; 'best teaching practices in APE' = 38%, M = 2.76, SD = 1.29; 'inclusion and least restrictive environment and APE' = 39%, M = 2.63, SD = 1.06). Test scores did not significantly differ by any of the demographic variables, p > 0.05. Recommendations for future research and professional development are discussed.

As most physical education teacher education programs provide little preparatory coursework on disabilities, it is unsurprising preservice physical educators often struggle to effectively include students with disabilities. Given upwards of 95% of students with disabilities are taught in integrated physical education classes, it is imperative teachers are prepared for this inevitability. Though it is moderately understood that preservice physical educators receive little preparation, what remains unknown is what those preparatory courses provide and what the rationale is behind their construction. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine introductory adapted physical education (APE) course instructors' perspectives towards the purpose of this course, the content delivered, and their rationale for the included content. Based on interviews with seven faculty (4 males and 3 females), three themes were constructed: 'It is learning that this may fail', '[Our] purpose is to expose them', and 'We cover … broad strokes'. These findings highlight APE faculty's recognition that their course alone is not enough to prepare future physical educators to effectively provide students with disabilities a quality physical education experience. Overall, teachers largely emphasized the practical components of the course and heavily relied on medicalized definitions of disability. The results from this study deepen the understanding of how introductory APE courses are currently being taught across the United States and provide suggestions for ways to improve course development.

E-learning has become an increasingly popular mode of teaching college students, including students in the field of kinesiology. With the rise of e-learning, it is important to examine and understand specific components of online learning, such as educational podcasts. Educational podcasts are podcasts that are developed specifically for learning purposes and are frequently developed and used by faculty members. Preliminary research suggests that many college courses already regularly use podcasts as a learning tool, as well as that educational podcasts are a beneficial tool to use to supplement the learning process. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the literature related to educational podcasts. More specifically, within this paper the authors highlight the benefits of using educational podcasts, theories to apply to podcast development and implementation, types of podcasts, and strategies to properly incorporate educational podcasts within a kinesiology-related course.

A survey, developed with the Theory of Planned Behavior, was used to assess school administrators' intention to promote adapted physical education (APE). Survey results indicated that when school administrators' attitudes and subjective norms were favorable, the intention to promote APE was subsequently higher. The results indicate that if we expect public school administrators to promote APE in schools, they must know the importance of high-quality physical education to students with disabilities.

Physical education (PE) has long been neglected throughout the individualized education programme (IEP) process. Parents often feel unprepared to advocate for PE services within the IEP process. Aim: Thus, the purpose of this study was to outline the development of an advocacy checklist to help parents address PE within the IEP process and to examine parents' experiences discussing PE during IEP meetings. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to drive interviews that were conducted with seven parents of children with visual impairments (VI). Three interrelated themes were constructed using an inductive category development approach: (1) 'It's [PE] basically a check mark, It's, he was there. He didn't go to sleep', (2) 'I'd say it's [PE] one of our most important pieces… we believe in as a family' and (3) 'This is a perfect checklist of what they [IEP team] need to be going over'. The current study revealed multiple barriers that intervene with appropriate documentation of PE services during the IEP meeting. As voiced by the parents in this study, the checklist outlined in this study offers a practical and user-friendly PE advocacy checklist to guide all parties on the IEP team towards making informed decisions regarding these services.

To discover leads for next-generation chemoprotective antimalarial drugs, we tested more than 500,000 compounds for their ability to inhibit liver-stage development of luciferase-expressing Plasmodium spp. parasites (681 compounds showed a half-maximal inhibitory concentration of less than 1 micromolar). Cluster analysis identified potent and previously unreported scaffold families as well as other series previously associated with chemoprophylaxis. Further testing through multiple phenotypic assays that predict stage-specific and multispecies antimalarial activity distinguished compound classes that are likely to provide symptomatic relief by reducing asexual blood-stage parasitemia from those which are likely to only prevent malaria. Target identification by using functional assays, in vitro evolution, or metabolic profiling revealed 58 mitochondrial inhibitors but also many chemotypes possibly with previously unidentified mechanisms of action.

Currently, there is a dearth of research that has examined how podcasts influence kinesiology students' learning experience. More specifically, research is needed to better understand how different types of podcasts (e.g. open-access podcasts) influence students' perceptions toward topics that are complex and contextual. One such complex topic that has particular meaning to the fields of physical education and adapted physical education is inclusion. As such, the purpose of this investigation was to explore the way in which listening to a podcast influences how undergraduate students understand inclusion and integration within a physical education setting. Written reflections were collected from 19 undergraduate students and focus group interviews were conducted with 14 undergraduate students. An interpretivist research paradigm was adopted, and a qualitative description approach was utilized to construct three interrelated themes. The first theme, 'This podcast was very effective', demonstrated that the participants had generally favorable views towards the effectiveness of the podcast. The second theme, 'I really didn't know the difference', described how the podcast provided new information to the participants concerning inclusion and integration in a physical education setting. The third theme, 'Creating an inclusive environment for children with disabilities will be a challenge', portrays participants recognizing barriers to providing an inclusive environment, and whether questioning integrated settings are always the preferred setting. These findings suggest that open-access podcasts are a viable tool to teach complex issues to preservice physical educators.

Purpose: Educational research often provides insight into the potential best practices to use within the classroom setting. Yet, limited information is available on teachers' perspectives toward research in the field of adapted physical education (APE). The current study examined adapted physical educators' perceptions toward research. Method: Sixty general physical education and APE associations within the United State of America were emailed a survey adapted from the National Center for Research Policy and Practice. Results: One hundred twenty-four adapted physical educators were included within the study. Spearmen correlations and frequency counts of open-ended responses were used to analyze the data. Overall, findings indicated that a majority of participants had conducted research, with most participants mentioning it helped them learn more about a particular issue they were facing. Adapted physical educators reported a high rate of engagement with research and that research has a positive impact on important issues, such as behavior management and advocating for students with disabilities. Although positive overall perceptions toward educational research were reported, several items that related to the usefulness and accessibility of research were ranked quite low. In addition, it was found that higher levels of education and years of experience were correlated with lower perceptions toward the validity and usefulness of research. Conclusion: This study highlights the important role research plays in the practice of adapted physical educators; however, researchers need to present their research findings in a more practical way for teachers to translate to their own situations.

Educators' understanding and use of language is particularly relevant in relation to historically marginalized groups, such as people with disabilities. However, previous research has suggested that teacher education programs do not adequately address the concepts of language and disability. Content acquisition podcasts (CAPs) may provide them with knowledge related to language and disability. The purposes of this investigation were to determine how a CAP impacts undergraduate students' understanding of language with regards to people with disabilities, and examine undergraduate students' perceptions towards CAPs as a learning tool. Qualitative analyses, a pairwise t-test, and a Pearson's correlation analysis were used to determine CAP's impact on 43 preservice educators. Results revealed that the CAP significantly increased the participants' knowledge and that the participants had positive perceptions towards the CAP. Findings from focus group discussions indicated a number of themes emerged in relation to both language use regarding people with disabilities and CAPs.

The purpose of this article is to share a validated IEP [individualized education program] checklist for PE [physical education]. This tool can be used by administrators, physical and adapted physical educators, parents, and specialists.

Specially designed physical education (PE), also known as adapted PE, is frequently provided by an adapted physical educator. Adapted physical educators are unique, as they need knowledge about both PE and special education curricula (Kwon & Block, 2014). However, students with disabilities are not provided appropriate PE services. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, U.S.C. § 300.108, 2004) requires students with disabilities to have access to specially designed PE to meet their unique needs as determined appropriate by the individualized education program (IEP) team. However, it has been well documented that many barriers prevent effective adapted PE service delivery to students with disabilities (Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2010). Some barriers are associated with local special education administrators and special educators. The purpose of this article is to highlight the existing barriers for students with disabilities and offer possible solutions.

In times of increased global interdependence, producing inter-culturally competent school leaders who can engage in informed, ethical decision-making when confronted with problems that involve a diversity of perspectives is becoming an urgent leadership priority. Helping school leaders form and internalize a global perspective requires today's leadership preparation programs to assist future leaders in developing the capacity to think with complexity taking into account multiple cultural perspectives. Yet, while an understanding of cultural patterns, social stratification mobility, principles of human development, and racial dynamics are often cited as markers of successful student preparation for leadership for global interdependence, these learning outcomes are often poorly defined and not well integrated into the curriculum for educational leadership. Study abroad, the primary mechanism by which students experience foreign cultures, has become a seminal vehicle for global learning. Education abroad has become an increasingly important educational program experience in global learning and development, intercultural competence, intercultural maturity, and intercultural sensitivity. This article presents a framework for how to use global learning to develop in today's educational leaders the conceptualization and disposition to bring about the revolutionary changes that eliminate marginalizing practices in schools. By providing a global framework to guide this development, tomorrow's educational leaders will be provided with the learning they need to address the problems they will face in the future. Such a strategy aims to revitalize educational leadership preparation programs and increase student engagement by showing the relevance of global knowledge to education's most urgent social, ethical, and civic challenges. (Contains 3 tables and 4 charts.)

Aminopyrazoles are a new class of antimalarial compounds identified in a cellular antiparasitic screen with potent activity against Plasmodium falciparum asexual and sexual stage parasites. To investigate their unknown mechanism of action and thus identify their target, we cultured parasites in the presence of a representative member of the aminopyrazole series, GNF-Pf4492, to select for resistance. Whole genome sequencing of three resistant lines showed that each had acquired independent mutations in a P-type cation-transporter ATPase, PfATP4 (PF3D7_1211900), a protein implicated as the novel Plasmodium spp. target of another, structurally unrelated, class of antimalarials called the spiroindolones and characterized as an important sodium transporter of the cell. Similarly to the spiroindolones, GNF-Pf4492 blocks parasite transmission to mosquitoes and disrupts intracellular sodium homeostasis. Our data demonstrate that PfATP4 plays a critical role in cellular processes, can be inhibited by two distinct antimalarial pharmacophores, and supports the recent observations that PfATP4 is a critical antimalarial target.

BackgroundWhole-genome sequencing represents a powerful experimental tool for pathogen research. We present methods for the analysis of small eukaryotic genomes, including a streamlined system (called Platypus) for finding single nucleotide and copy number variants as well as recombination events.ResultsWe have validated our pipeline using four sets of Plasmodium falciparum drug resistant data containing 26 clones from 3D7 and Dd2 background strains, identifying an average of 11 single nucleotide variants per clone. We also identify 8 copy number variants with contributions to resistance, and report for the first time that all analyzed amplification events are in tandem.ConclusionsThe Platypus pipeline provides malaria researchers with a powerful tool to analyze short read sequencing data. It provides an accurate way to detect SNVs using known software packages, and a novel methodology for detection of CNVs, though it does not currently support detection of small indels. We have validated that the pipeline detects known SNVs in a variety of samples while filtering out spurious data. We bundle the methods into a freely available package.