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Abstract Background Children separated from their caregivers in humanitarian emergencies are vulnerable to multiple risks. However, no field-tested methods exist to capture ongoing changes in the frequency and nature of separation in these contexts over the course of a protracted crisis. Methods Recognizing this gap, a mobile phone-based surveillance system was established in a drought-affected district in northern Ethiopia to assess the feasibility of using community focal points to monitor cases of unaccompanied and separated children. A total of 29 focal points were recruited through village elections from 10 villages in the district. Feasibility was assessed directly by measuring the number and quality of messages sent by the focal points each week. The team also evaluated the implementation process and any challenges that arose through observations and key informant interviews with focal points at the conclusion of the project measuring frequency of employing various information gathering techniques, challenges faced, and perceptions of community expectations. Likert scales were used to measure overall satisfaction with the experience of being a focal point, self-assessed difficulty of being a focal point, perceived likelihood of cases captured, and motivation. Results Over a six-month period, the focal points reported 48 cases of separation. The majority of separated children (64.6%) were 10 years of age or older. Work was a major driver of separation, especially for boys. Age, sex, role in community, and density of community had no statistically significant impact on focal point performance in terms of frequency, accuracy, or consistency of messages. The focal points themselves reported high levels of motivation, but suggested several areas for improvement in the surveillance system. Conclusions Without the surveillance system, most of these children would have otherwise been unrecognized. From a technical standpoint the system was successful and resilient in the face of unexpected external challenges. However, focal point participation and accuracy was variable over time and across groups and diminished towards the later months of the study, suggesting that the community-based approach may require additional supports to ensure that the surveillance system is able to accurately capture trends over time.

One potential avenue to address the STEM teacher shortages reported internationally is to offer scholarships paired with targeted preparation experiences for high-performing STEM majors and professionals to become K-12 teachers. In the study reported in this paper, the influence of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program on the recruitment and retention of mathematics teachers in high-need schools was investigated. The research found the Noyce Scholarship and program activities to be an effective mechanism for recruiting high performing college students as mathematics teachers and to retain them in the critical first few years of teaching. Discussed in this paper is how the Noyce Program made these impacts through financial incentives, as well as the scholars' participation in the program and interactions with others.

In September 2016, three acutely jaundiced (AJS) pregnant women were admitted to Am Timan Hospital, eastern Chad. We described the outbreak and conducted a case test-negative study to identify risk factors for this genotype of HEV in an acute outbreak setting.Active case finding using a community based surveillance network identified suspected AJS cases. Pregnant or visibly ill AJS cases presenting at hospital were tested with Assure® IgM HEV rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and some with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in Amsterdam; confirmed cases were RDT-positive and controls were RDT-negative. All answered questions around: demographics, household makeup, area of residence, handwashing practices, water collection behaviour and clinical presentation. We calculated unadjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).Between September and April 2017, 1443 AJS cases (1293 confirmed) were detected in the town(attack rate: 2%; estimated 65,000 population). PCR testing confirmed HEV genotype 1e. HEV RDTs were used for 250 AJS cases; 100 (40%) were confirmed. Risk factors for HEV infection, included: having at least two children under the age of 5 years (OR 2.1, 95%CI 1.1-4.3), having another household member with jaundice (OR 2.4, 95%CI 0.90-6.3) and, with borderline significance, living in the neighbourhoods of Riad (OR 3.8, 95%CI 1.0-1.8) or Ridina (OR 3.3, 95%CI 1.0-12.6). Cases were more likely to present with vomiting (OR 3.2, 9%CI 1.4-7.9) than controls; possibly due to selection bias. Cases were non-significantly less likely to report always washing hands before meals compared with controls (OR 0.33, 95%CI 0.1-1.1).Our study suggests household factors and area of residence (possibly linked to access to water and sanitation) play a role in HEV transmission; which could inform future outbreak responses. Ongoing sero-prevalence studies will elucidate more aspects of transmission dynamics of this virus with genotype 1e.

Clostridium perfringens is a commensal member of the human gut microbiome and an opportunistic pathogen whose genome encodes a suite of putative large, multi-modular carbohydrate-active enzymes that appears to play a role in the interaction of the bacterium with mucin-based carbohydrates. Among the most complex of these is an enzyme that contains a presumed catalytic module belonging to glycoside hydrolase family 31 (GH31). This large enzyme, which based on its possession of a GH31 module is a predicted α-glucosidase, contains a variety of non-catalytic ancillary modules, including three CBM32 modules that to date have not been characterized. NMR-based experiments demonstrated a preference of each module for galacto-configured sugars, including the ability of all three CBM32s to recognize the common mucin monosaccharide GalNAc. X-ray crystal structures of the CpGH31 CBM32s, both in apo form and bound to GalNAc, revealed the finely-tuned molecular strategies employed by these sequentially variable CBM32s in coordinating a common ligand. The data highlight that sequence similarities to previously characterized CBMs alone are insufficient for identifying the molecular mechanism of ligand binding by individual CBMs. Furthermore, the overlapping ligand binding profiles of the three CBMs provide a fail-safe mechanism for the recognition of GalNAc among the dense eukaryotic carbohydrate networks of the colonic mucosa. These findings expand our understanding of ligand targeting by large, multi-modular carbohydrate-active enzymes, and offer unique insights into of the expanding ligand-binding preferences and binding site topologies observed in CBM32s.

Abstract  Let r 1, …, r s be non-zero integers satisfying r 1 + ⋯ + r s = 0. Let G $${\simeq \mathbb{Z} / k_1 \mathbb{Z}\oplus \cdots \oplus \mathbb{Z} / k_n \mathbb{Z}}$$ be a finite abelian group with k i |k i-1(2 ≤ i ≤ n), and suppose that (r i , k 1) = 1(1 ≤ i ≤ s). Let $${D_{\mathbf r}(G)}$$ denote the maximal cardinality of a set $${A \subseteq G}$$ which contains no non-trivial solution of r 1 x 1 + ⋯ + r s x s = 0 with $${x_i\,\in\,A (1 \le i \le s)}$$. We prove that $${D_{\mathbf r}(G) \ll |G|/n^{s-2}}$$. We also apply this result to study problems in finite projective spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]