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Mycobacterium kansasii, a slow-growing nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), can cause destructive pulmonary diseases in humans that cause similar clinical manifestations to those of M. tuberculosis pulmonary disease (1). In recent years, [...]

The study assessed the perception of junior secondary school teacher to their level of motivation in Bo district, Southern Region of Sierra Leone. It adopted a descriptive research design to collect data on a sample size of 298 teachers. Self-administered perception questionnaire on teacher motivation (SAPQTM) was developed on the basis of the objectives of the study. Data was collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, %) and inferential statistics (regression). Results revealed that majority of the respondents were male (73.5) and only few (26.5) were females and very young. According to the results, majority of the respondents, 59.10%, rated their level of motivation as low; this implies that there is a motivation problem of teachers in Bo district that includes pay, material possession, prestige, and positive evaluation from others. The study therefore recommends that government has to be serious about implementing motivating programmes to encourage and improve the level of teachers' motivation. Development partners and government should devise ways of motivating schools administrators and teachers, so as to compensate them for the extra workloads they are undertaking to manage their schools. Awards could be instituted for better performance. Areas such as school and pupil discipline, teacher performance, pupil attendance and achievement and community and parent participation in school activities should be rewarded to serve as motivation. The Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) must be seen advocating for medical, housing, and transportation allowances for teachers and finally, teacher education institutions must do more research on factors influencing teachers' motivation in secondary schools.

The study investigated the effects of motivation on the performance of Junior Secondary School teachers in Bo district, Southern Sierra Leone. It adopted a descriptive research design to collect data on a sample size of 298 teachers. The descriptive statistics analysis revealed that the performance of teachers was high; this implies that teachers rated their performance as of a high standard. They indicated that most teachers are not fulfilling their role as guidance counselors in the schools. On the other hand, over 80% of JSS teachers in Bo district, stated that they did not want to be teachers. Demotivation is a major debilitating factor in teachers' work performance, and the government needs to take motivating programs seriously to encourage and improve teacher performance. Areas such as school and pupil discipline, teacher performance, pupil attendance, community and parent participation in school activities, as well as the respect and dedication of the students, should be rewarded to serve as motivation. Parents and teachers could take legal actions against the government in International Courts of Human Rights related to education to improve their motivation so that performance can be of better quality. The action can be taken internally using the functions of the Public Ministry in defending the rights of minorities, in case the government decides not to respect the constitution. Pupils could also support the teachers and leaders through protests to seek the attention of civil society and local government for better motivation that could accelerate the quality performance of teachers.

This paper aims to examine the obstacles hindering the successful implementation of Free Primary teaching in Kakua chiefdom, Bo district, Southern Sierra Leone, focusing on the adequacy of funding and provision of educational resources to schools. The research employed a survey design with a cross-sectional approach, involving the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data from various respondents simultaneously. The target population consisted of 600 participants, including 20 school leaders, 575 teachers, and 5 education officers from the Bo district. The sample, comprising 120 responses, included one deputy director (DD), two zonal executives of the Sierra Leone Teachers Union (ZESLTU), nine school leaders, and 108 teachers. The DD and ZESLTU executives were selected through purposive sampling, while school leaders and teachers were chosen through proportionate sampling. Interviews were scheduled with the Sierra Leone Teachers Union's zonal executives and DD. The results revealed that a majority of teachers reported overcrowded classrooms attributed to free primary education, aligning with findings from other research. The necessary number of classrooms exhibited variation, with an average deficit of 2 per school. Teachers reported inadequacies in classrooms, urinals, toilets, desks, and textbooks. However, other teaching and learning aids were generally rated as sufficient. This highlights a lack of resources in schools, potentially impeding the efforts of teachers and school administrators. Therefore, the study recommends that the government should allocate adequate funding, time, and resources to ensure the effective implementation of free primary school education without compromising quality.

Little is known about environmental transmission of Mycobacterium kansasii. We retrospectively investigated potential environmental acquisition, primarily water sources, of M. kansasii among 216 patients with pulmonary disease from an industrial city in Taiwan during 2015–2017. We analyzed sputum mycobacterial cultures using whole-genome sequencing and used hierarchical Bayesian spatial network methods to evaluate risk factors for genetic relatedness of M. kansasii strains. The mean age of participants was 67 years; 24.1% had previously had tuberculosis. We found that persons from districts served by 2 water purification plants were at higher risk of being infected with genetically related M. kansasii isolates. The adjusted odds ratios were 1.81 (1.25–2.60) for the Weng Park plant and 1.39 (1.12–1.71) for the Fongshan plant. Those findings unveiled the association between water purification plants and M. kansasii pulmonary disease, highlighting the need for further environmental investigations to evaluate the risk for M. kansasii transmission.

Objectives (1) To summarise the literature on the impact of paediatric weight management interventions on health outcomes in preschool age children with overweight or obesity and (2) to evaluate the completeness of intervention description and real-world applicability using validated tools.Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.Data sources MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library and PsychInfo were searched between 10 March 2015 and 21 November 2021.Eligibility criteria Randomised controlled trials addressing weight management in preschool children (2–6 years) with overweight or obesity.Data extraction and synthesis Two reviewers independently extracted key information from each study and assessed risk of bias. Random-effects meta-analysis was performed where there was evidence for homogeneous effects. The certainty of evidence was assessed by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation.Results Of the 16 908 studies retrieved, 9 trials (1687 participants) met the inclusion criteria. These interventions used motivational interviewing (MI) or multicomponent educational interventions related to health behaviour approaches and were 6–12 months in duration. All studies contained some risk of bias. A difference was found in the intervention groups compared with controls for body mass index (BMI) z score (mean difference −0.10, 95% CI −0.12 to −0.09; eight trials, 1491 participants; p

Abstract Background People successfully completing treatment for tuberculosis remain at elevated risk for recurrent disease, either from relapse or reinfection. Identifying risk factors for recurrent tuberculosis may help target post-tuberculosis screening and care. Methods We enrolled 500 patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis in South Africa and collected baseline data on demographics, clinical presentation and sputum mycobacterial cultures for 24-loci mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing. We used routinely-collected administrative data to identify recurrent episodes of tuberculosis occurring over a median of six years after successful treatment completion. Results Of 500 patients initially enrolled, 333 (79%) successfully completed treatment for tuberculosis. During the follow-up period 35 patients with successful treatment (11%) experienced a bacteriologically confirmed tuberculosis recurrence. In our Cox proportional hazards model, a 3+ AFB sputum smear grade was significantly associated with recurrent tuberculosis with a hazard ratio of 3.33 (95% CI 1.44–7.7). The presence of polyclonal M. tuberculosis infection at baseline had a hazard ratio for recurrence of 1.96 (95% CI 0.86–4.48). Conclusion Our results indicate that AFB smear grade is independently associated with tuberculosis recurrence after successful treatment for an initial episode while the association between polyclonal M. tuberculosis infection and increased risk of recurrence appears possible.

The lipoprotein Pal participates in the coordination of outer-membrane constriction with septation in Gram-negative bacteria. Here, the authors show that this coordination is mediated by active mobilisation-and-capture of Pal at division septa by the Tol system.

There have always been tensions within the EU’s external development policy between ethical and self-interested approaches and also between universalist and realpolitik policies. The EU’s structural economic power and global neoliberal dominance have allowed these tensions to be subsumed within its external policies. A range of factors has contributed to the rise of illiberalism globally, leading to heightened geoeconomic rivalry while complex changes in global development governance facilitate the use of aid as an instrument of political and economic self-interest. The EU has reacted to this by re-framing its political approach and policies in an effort to rebalance values and interests. A new realism entered EU discourse and there is evidence of this being applied in specific instruments and policies analysed here. Blended finance instruments are ‘dual use’ in that they can be used for more flexible development policies but also to support EU businesses more directly. The proposal to combine nearly all of the previous aid and cooperation instruments into one single legal instrument will also give the EU unprecedented flexibility to use aid funds for various political purposes. These changes are part of a more complex iterative process in the case of the EU than for other international actors. Interests and values are being reconfigured rather than jettisoned in a ‘realist turn’. However, they still represent a significant adjustment for the EU in terms of aid priorities and modalities.