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This paper aims to explore how the principles of participatory action research (PAR) articulate with questions of climate justice. Drawing on three qualitative case studies in Brazil, Fiji and Kenya, the paper explores university institutional capabilities, asking how the principles of mobilising PAR to support transformative outcomes can further climate justice. The paper argues that for participatory action research to become a pathway to build universities' capabilities, key considerations are needed. PAR needs to: (a) move beyond change in individual behaviour to respond to climate change and affect institutional norms, procedures and practices; (b) recognise and partner with marginalised groups whose voice and experiences are at the periphery of climate debate, enabling reciprocal flows of impact and knowledge between universities and wider societies; and (c) foster "relationships of equivalence" with actors within as well as outside university to influence university governance and wider climate-related policy-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a child psychosocial framework among stakeholders in areas of disadvantage in three low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), i.e. Kenya, Turkey and Brazil, and to capture their proposed recommendations through action plans according to this framework. Design/methodology/approach: Workshops were facilitated with a total of 54 participants from different disciplines. The framework addressed safety and child-centredness, quality of care, resilience-building in schools and communities, enhancing competencies within existing roles, counselling and psychological interventions, and access to mental health services. Stakeholders' perspectives were captured through a participatory action procedure. Findings: The emerging 33 categories across the framework dimensions and the three sites led to four overarching and inter-linked themes. These related to community awareness; empowerment and "mobilization" of children, young people and families; inter-agency policy and practice; and capacity-building on skills acquisition at different levels. Research limitations/implications: The next stage in this service research should be full implementation and evaluation in different LMIC contexts. Practical implications: It is feasible to implement such a child psychosocial framework in contexts of conflict and disadvantage, and in the absence of specialist mental health services. Active stakeholder engagement and co-production should be central to the next phase of service transformation in LMIC. Originality/value: This study captured the views and experiences of stakeholders in LMIC areas of disadvantage, and demonstrated their readiness to establish interdisciplinary networks and re-focus existing services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the variables having impact on the student motivation have been analyzed based on the articles, conference papers, master's theses and doctoral dissertations published in the years 2000-2017. A total of 165 research papers were selected for the research material and the data were collected through qualitative research techniques through document review and content analysis. According to the research results, the most important factors affecting student motivation are the fields of teacher, teachers' classroom management skills and their teaching methods. In this research, factors having less influence on the student motivation are parental communication, student characteristics and study fields. In addition, relational search type was used more than others, mostly students were selected as the study group and most researches were conducted in USA and Turkey.

This paper examines the increasingly diverse range of roles played by the corporate sector in shaping education policy. While a growing body of scholarship has documented the deepening embeddedness of the corporate sector within policy-making processes, empirical research on the strategies mobilized by corporate actors remains unsystematised and fragmentary. Furthermore, existing categorizations of corporate policy-influence strategies are frequently restricted to a limited group of Anglo-Saxon countries and, consequently, are ill suited to capturing emerging policy dynamics globally. Building on the results of a literature review, this paper categorises four emerging strategies articulated by the corporate sector: knowledge mobilization, networking, engaging with grassroots, and leading by example. Each strategy is illustrated with examples from a selection of country case studies. These examples suggest that, in the education policy domain, the corporate sector operates not only as a policy influencer, but increasingly as a policy actor organically embedded within policy-making processes and spaces.

The qualitative community embraces transparent dialogue through sharing knowledge to improve rigour and develop new initiatives. In this paper, we recognise there are many complexities within qualitative research, leading to important debates. We explore the benefits and challenges, as well as the practicalities and technicalities, of conducting research that 1) employs multiple methods within the qualitative paradigm, 2) is interdisciplinary, and 3) examines a sensitive research topic 4) with a vulnerable group of participants. Specifically, when research is also 5) cross-cultural and 6) utilises participatory techniques. Through our discussion, we draw upon an existing project and examine the complexity of designing and completing intra-paradigmatic mixed methods research with children from different sociocultural contexts, underpinned by interdisciplinary perspectives, in a complex area like mental health.

Financial inclusion, defined as the adequate access and usage of formal financial services to improve people's lives, is a crucial area for the economic development of a country through its various angles. This paper analyzes the impact of selected FinTech companies on financial inclusion in their respective countries to obtain lessons of their business models and country environments that can help Peruvian financial inclusion. The selected FinTechs are M-PESA in Kenya, Nubank in Brazil, GCASH in the Philippines, and Easypaisa in Pakistan, which revolutionized the financial sector in their respective countries. However, a comparative study of their impact on financial inclusion in their respective country has not been conducted yet; therefore, the lessons obtained are helpful for the Peruvian situation due to their practical implications and because they raise possible areas for further and deeper research. The approach of this study considered a qualitative and quantitative method (to find a Pearson correlation between the percentage of the population of Country (A) that are users of FinTech (a) and the six selected demand-side indicators per country retrieved from the Global Findex Database) analysis to understand the results obtained. The results obtained indicate that M-PESA and GCASH, companies specialized in providing basic mobile money transactions such as remittances and withdrawals, did not impact the provision of other financial services such as savings or credit cards. In Easypaisa's case, this company positively impacts the studied indicators, probably due to its original partnership with a microfinance institution. Regarding Nubank, despite its remarkable growth in the last years, the company does not affect financial inclusion in Brazil yet. Nonetheless, after its recent expansion to provide more financial services, future research could assess the impact of this company on Brazilian financial inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we argue that the success of mobile banking models represents an enigma in terms of their replicability to other countries. These models offer the opportunity to diminish the financial exclusion suffered by the poor by providing access to credit, savings, and transfers, which are key tools capable of transforming the livelihoods of the poor as well as the efficiency of the market. We show that mobile phones need a complete ecosystem that supports its application to a functioning mobile banking service. The aim of this paper is to contribute to existing knowledge of mobile money across the value chain by providing insight into the mechanisms of m-money and the value propositions within the business of m-banking. We develop a taxonomy of the key drivers of the business model to help assess the replicability of these models in other countries. We focus on models developed in Kenya, the Philippines, and Brazil, and explore if some of the conditions present in these models are lacking for a widespread adoption in others. We conclude, however, that there appears to be no set of clearly identifiable variables that serve as a basis for success and that those necessary conditions for the replication of mbanking models identified by the existing literature to other countries around the world do not guarantee results. Moreover, we find that some of these conditions are not present in countries where m-banking models have been successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to detail quality award initiatives in Kenya and to propose an integrated national quality award. Design/methodology/approach - This paper discusses sectoral quality initiatives and award schemes operational in Kenya. The KQA and COYA schemes' objectives, procedures, examination criteria, principles and frameworks are discussed and lists of respective award recipients presented. A national quality award scheme integrating these initiatives and awards modelled on the Brazilian national quality award is then proposed for adoption. Findings - While the quality revolution is increasingly being felt in several sectors of the Kenyan economy, courtesy of several sectoral quality initiatives and award schemes, nonetheless, these seem inadequate and cannot keep pace with global competition; hence the need for a national quality award with an expanded mandate, thrust and appeal beyond the narrow sectoral confines. Originality/value - The paper brings to the attention of practitioners the need for integration of quality initiatives and awards into a national quality award. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terrestrial biosphere is an important global carbon (C) sink, with the potential to drive large positive climate feedbacks. Thus a better understanding of interactions between land use change, climate change and the terrestrial biosphere is crucial in planning future land management options. Climate change has the potential to alter terrestrial C storage since changes in temperature, precipitation and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations could affect net primary production (NPP), C inputs to soil, and soil C decomposition rates. Climate change could also act as a driver for land use change, thus further altering terrestrial C fluxes. The net balance of these different effects varies considerably between regions and hence the case studies presented in this paper (the GEFSOC project countries Kenya, Jordan, Brazil, and India) provide a unique opportunity to study climate impacts on terrestrial C storage. This paper first presents predicted changes in climate for the four case study countries from a coupled climate-C cycle Global Circulation Model (HadCM3LC), followed by predicted changes in vegetation type, NPP and soil C storage. These very coarse assessments provide an initial estimate of large-scale effects. A more detailed study of climate impacts on soil C storage in the Brazilian Amazon is provided as an example application of the GEFSOC system. Interestingly in the four cases studied here precipitation seems to control the sign of the soil C changes under climate change with wetter conditions resulting in higher soil C stocks and drier conditions in lower soil C stocks, presumably because increased NPP in wetter conditions here will override any increase in respiration. In contrast, globally, it seems to be temperature that controls changes in C stocks under climate change. Even if there is a slight increase in precipitation globally, a decrease in C stocks is predicted—in other words, the regional response to precipitation differs from the global response. The reason for this may be that whilst temperature increases under climate change were predicted everywhere, the nature of precipitation changes varies greatly between regions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Various slum upgrading interventions have been implemented by numerous institutions to improve conditions of slum residents. It however remains unclear the extent to which the social diversity of slum residents is integrated in slum interventions. This paper thus assesses different slum upgrading approaches and methodologies to ascertain the extent to which they consider residents' diversity. Undertaking comprehensive desk review of relevant literature and adapting Fraser's 'tripartite' approach to social justice, the paper analyses three slum upgrading interventions in Kenya, Brazil and Thailand. The paper revealed that interventions in Kenya and Brazil implicitly aimed at ensuring spatial order and hence, focused majorly on physical projects with minimal focus on identifying and incorporating the diverse needs of residents. This resulted in the non- or minimal use of delivered projects. Contrary to this, the diverse needs of residents were considered and adequately reflected in the case of Thailand. The consideration of diversity in the slum upgrading interventions was observed to fundamentally stem from project objectives set by the implementing institutions. The paper concludes that policy interventions to improve conditions of slums should acknowledge the diverse needs of residents and the intersectional nature of the different social identities. • Various slum upgrading interventions have been implemented by various institutions. • Slum upgrading interventions are aimed at promoting wellbeing and societal development. • Interventions however largely fail to integrate social diversity of dwellers. • Consideration of diversity in the slum upgrading interventions is key to promoting overall development and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal treatment outcomes for breast cancer are dependent on a timely diagnosis followed by an organized, multidisciplinary approach to care. However, in many low- and middle-income countries, effective care management pathways can be difficult to follow because of financial constraints, a lack of resources, an insufficiently trained workforce, and/or poor infrastructure. On the basis of prior work by the Breast Health Global Initiative, this article proposes a phased implementation strategy for developing sustainable approaches to enhancing patient care in limited-resource settings by creating roadmaps that are individualized and adapted to the baseline environment. This strategy proposes that, after a situational analysis, implementation phases begin with bolstering palliative care capacity, especially in settings where a late-stage diagnosis is common. This is followed by strengthening the patient pathway, with consideration given to a dynamic balance between centralization of services into centers of excellence to achieve better quality and decentralization of services to increase patient access. The use of resource checklists ensures that comprehensive therapy or palliative care can be delivered safely and effectively. Episodic or continuous monitoring with established process and quality metrics facilitates ongoing assessment, which should drive continual process improvements. A series of case studies provides a snapshot of country experiences with enhancing patient care, including the implementation of national cancer control plans in Kenya, palliative care in Romania, the introduction of a 1-stop clinic for diagnosis in Brazil, the surgical management of breast cancer in India, and the establishment of a women's cancer center in Ghana., (© 2020 American Cancer Society.)

The dearth of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) is a global problem. Integrating CAMHS in primary care has been offered as a solution. We sampled integrated care perspectives from colleagues around the world. Our findings include various models of integrated care namely: the stepped care model in Australia; shared care in the United Kingdom (UK) and Spain; school-based collaborative care in Qatar, Singapore and the state of Texas in the US; collaborative care in Canada, Brazil, US, and Uruguay; coordinated care in the US; and, developing collaborative care models in low-resource settings, like Kenya and Micronesia. These findings provide insights into training initiatives necessary to build CAMHS workforce capacity using integrated care models, each with the ultimate goal of improving access to care. Despite variations and progress in implementing integrated care models internationally, common challenges exist: funding within complex healthcare systems, limited training mechanisms, and geopolitical/policy issues. Supportive healthcare policy, robust training initiatives, ongoing quality improvement and measurement of outcomes across programs would provide data-driven support for the expansion of integrated care and ensure its sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little evidence is available about the utility of web-based health education for students in low resource settings. This paper reports results from an evaluation of the TeenWeb project, a multi-year, web-based health education intervention implemented in two urban settings: Nairobi, Kenya (N =1178 school students) and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (N =714 school students). A quasi-experimental, school-based pre-test/post-test design was implemented at each study site to determine if easy access to web-based reproductive health information, combined with intellectual “priming” about reproductive health topics, would result in improved knowledge and attitudes about topics such as condom use, access to HIV testing, emergency contraception and abortion laws. Students in web-access schools completed one web-based module approximately every 6–8 weeks, and in return, had access to the Internet for at least 30min after completing each module. Although students were encouraged to access project-supplied web-based health information, freedom of web navigation was an incentive, so they could choose to access other Internet content instead. Most measures showed statistically significant differences between students in “web” and “comparison” conditions at post-test, but only about half of the differences were in the hypothesized direction. Results of an embedded experiment employing more directed feedback tripled the likelihood of correctly reporting the duration of emergency contraception effectiveness. Review of URL logs suggests that the modest results were due to inadequate exposure to educational materials. Future intervention should focus on teen's purposeful searching for health information when they are in personal circumstances of unmet health needs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Studies have shown that the amount of time students spend engaged in learning tasks is related to learning outcomes. However, schools often offer to the students only a fraction of the time that governments pay for, and schools in lower-income areas often offer less time than governments plan for students. Instructional time ought to be an important accountability tool for those who finance education. Government revenues and private investments pay for teachers' salaries, buildings, teacher training and textbooks, and it is expected that 100% of this investment be used for student learning. In fact, an hour of class in a particular school corresponds to a fraction of the amount of time schools officially operate (about 200 days, 4-5 hours per day at the primary level). Governments' intentions to provide a certain number of instructional hours are defeated at the local level. However, data have rarely been collected to demonstrate the links between instructional time loss, local-level governance, and potentially effective remedies. In this article, the author talks about instructional time, means to assess it, and the implications for improvement through better governance. (Contains 4 figures and 1 note.)

Objective: To construct international ultrasound-based standards for fetal cerebellar growth and Sylvian fissure maturation.Methods: Healthy, well nourished pregnant women, enrolled at < 14 weeks' gestation in the Fetal Growth Longitudinal Study (FGLS) of INTERGROWTH-21st , an international multicenter, population-based project, underwent serial three-dimensional (3D) fetal ultrasound scans every 5 ± 1 weeks until delivery in study sites located in Brazil, India, Italy, Kenya and the UK. In the present analysis, only those fetuses that underwent developmental assessment at 2 years of age were included. We measured the transcerebellar diameter and assessed Sylvian fissure maturation using two-dimensional ultrasound images extracted from available 3D fetal head volumes. The appropriateness of pooling data from the five sites was assessed using variance component analysis and standardized site differences. For each Sylvian fissure maturation score (left or right side), mean gestational age and 95% CI were calculated. Transcerebellar diameter was modeled using fractional polynomial regression, and goodness of fit was assessed.Results: Of those children in the original FGLS cohort who had developmental assessment at 2 years of age, 1130 also had an available 3D ultrasound fetal head volume. The sociodemographic characteristics and pregnancy/perinatal outcomes of the study sample confirmed the health and low-risk status of the population studied. In addition, the fetuses had low morbidity and adequate growth and development at 2 years of age. In total, 3016 and 2359 individual volumes were available for transcerebellar-diameter and Sylvian-fissure analysis, respectively. Variance component analysis and standardized site differences showed that the five study populations were sufficiently similar on the basis of predefined criteria for the data to be pooled to produce international standards. A second-degree fractional polynomial provided the best fit for modeling transcerebellar diameter; we then estimated gestational-age-specific 3rd , 50th and 97th smoothed centiles. Goodness-of-fit analysis comparing empirical centiles with smoothed centile curves showed good agreement. The Sylvian fissure increased in maturation with advancing gestation, with complete overlap of the mean gestational age and 95% CIs between the sexes for each development score. No differences in Sylvian fissure maturation between the right and left hemispheres were observed.Conclusion: We present, for the first time, international standards for fetal cerebellar growth and Sylvian fissure maturation throughout pregnancy based on a healthy fetal population that exhibited adequate growth and development at 2 years of age. © 2020 The Authors. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cervical cancer claims 311,000 lives annually, and 90% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Cervical cancer is a highly preventable and treatable disease, if detected through screening at an early stage. Governments have a responsibility to screen women for precancerous cervical lesions. Yet, national screening programmes overlook many poor women and those marginalised in society. Under-screened women (called hard-to-reach) experience a higher incidence of cervical cancer and elevated mortality rates compared to regularly-screened women. Such inequalities deprive hard-to-reach women of the full enjoyment of their right to sexual and reproductive health, as laid out in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and General Comment No. 22. Discussion: This article argues first for tailored and innovative national cervical cancer screening programmes (NCSP) grounded in human rights law, to close the disparity between women who are afforded screening and those who are not. Second, acknowledging socioeconomic disparities requires governments to adopt and refine universal cancer control through NCSPs aligned with human rights duties, including to reach all eligible women. Commonly reported- and chronically under-addressed- screening disparities relate to the availability of sufficient health facilities and human resources (example from Kenya), the physical accessibility of health services for rural and remote populations (example from Brazil), and the accessibility of information sensitive to cultural, ethnic, and linguistic barriers (example from Ecuador). Third, governments can adopt new technologies to overcome individual and structural barriers to cervical cancer screening. National cervical cancer screening programmes should tailor screening methods to under-screened women, bearing in mind that eliminating systemic discrimination may require committing greater resources to traditionally neglected groups. Conclusion: Governments have human rights obligations to refocus screening policies and programmes on women who are disproportionately affected by discrimination that impairs their full enjoyment of the right to sexual and reproductive health. National cervical cancer screening programmes that keep the right to health principles (above) central will be able to expand screening among low-income, isolated and other marginalised populations, but also women in general, who, for a variety of reasons, do not visit healthcare providers for regular screenings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the association between breastfeeding and childhood obesity. A multinational cross‐sectional study of 4,740 children aged 9–11 years was conducted from 12 countries. Infant breastfeeding was recalled by parents or legal guardians. Height, weight, waist circumference, and body fat were obtained using standardized methods. The overall prevalence of obesity, central obesity, and high body fat were 12.3%, 9.9%, and 8.1%, respectively. After adjustment for maternal age at delivery, body mass index (BMI), highest maternal education, history of gestational diabetes, gestational age, and child's age, sex, birth weight, unhealthy diet pattern scores, moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity, sleeping, and sedentary time, exclusive breastfeeding was associated with lower odds of obesity (odds ratio [OR] 0.76, 95% confidence interval, CI [0.57, 1.00]) and high body fat (OR 0.60, 95% CI [0.43, 0.84]) compared with exclusive formula feeding. The multivariable‐adjusted ORs based on different breastfeeding durations (none, 1–6, 6–12, and > 12 months) were 1.00, 0.74, 0.70, and 0.60 for obesity (Ptrend =.020) and 1.00, 0.64, 047, and 0.64 for high body fat (Ptrend =.012), respectively. These associations were no longer significant after adjustment for maternal BMI. Breastfeeding may be a protective factor for obesity and high body fat in 9‐ to 11‐year‐old children from 12 countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anhand der Fallstudien zu Brasilien und Kenia arbeitet der Beitrag Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten in der Relation zwischen politischen Institutionen und Frauenbewegung heraus und beschreibt damit kontextspezifische Besonderheiten und kontextübergreifende Tendenzen im globalen Süden. Im Fokus stehen die spezifischen Geschlechterpolitiken und die institutionellen Interaktionsräume sowie die Allianzen für die Interaktion mit politischen Institutionen. Die Analyse zeigt, dass Frauenbewegungen in einem vergleichbaren politischen Kontext agieren, denn beide Länder werden durch eine Überlappung der gesellschaftlichen und politischen Sphäre geprägt. Ebenso greifen Frauenbewegungen in beiden Ländern auf intermediäre Protestformen zurück und sind von ähnlichen geschlechtsspezifischen Machtmechanismen im Zugang zum politischen System geprägt. Jenseits der Gemeinsamkeiten kristallisieren sich kontextspezifische Aspekte heraus und somit Unterschiede, welche Brasilien als „partizipative Demokratie" charakterisieren und Kenia als „politische Gesellschaft". Drawing on a selection of case studies, this article analyses differences und commonalities between Brazil and Kenya regarding the type of relations that persist between political institutions and the women's movement. The article thus accounts for contextual and supra-contextual specificities and trends in the global South. In particular, the article focuses on the politics of gender, the institutional setting and alliances that facilitate interaction with political institutions. The analysis shows that the two case studies similarly contextualize women's movements as both the social and the political sphere overlap in both countries. Furthermore, women's movements use intermediary protest forms and face comparably gendered power dynamics within both political systems. Beyond such similarities, the two cases vary in that Brazil can be described as „participatory democracy", and Kenya as „political society". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrous oxide (N 2 O), ammonia (NH 3 ), and methane (CH 4 ) emissions from the manure management chain of livestock production systems are important contributors to greenhouse gases (GHGs) and NH 3 emitted by human activities. Several studies have evaluated manure-related emissions and associated key variables at regional, national, or continental scales. However, there have been few studies focusing on the drivers of these emissions using a global dataset. An international project was created (DATAMAN) to develop a global database on GHG and NH 3 emissions from the manure management chain (housing, storage, and field) to identify key variables influencing emissions and ultimately to refine emission factors (EFs) for future national GHG inventories and NH 3 emission reporting. This paper describes the "field" database that focuses on N 2 O and NH 3 EFs from land-applied manure and excreta deposited by grazing livestock. We collated relevant information (EFs, manure characteristics, soil properties, and climatic conditions) from published peer-reviewed research, conference papers, and existing databases. The database, containing 5,632 observations compiled from 184 studies, was relatively evenly split between N 2 O and NH 3 (56 and 44% of the EF values, respectively). The N 2 O data were derived from studies conducted in 21 countries on five continents, with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Kenya, and Brazil representing 86% of the data. The NH 3 data originated from studies conducted in 17 countries on four continents, with the United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, and The Netherlands representing 79% of the data. Wet temperate climates represented 90% of the total database. The DATAMAN field database is available at http://www.dataman.co.nz., (© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Environmental Quality published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.)

The last decade has witnessed a steady reduction of the malaria burden worldwide. With various countries targeting disease elimination in the near future, the popular parasite infection or entomological inoculation rates are becoming less and less informative of the underlying malaria burden due to a reduced number of infected individuals or mosquitoes at the time of sampling. To overcome such problem, alternative measures based on antibodies against specific malaria antigens have gained recent interest in malaria epidemiology due to the possibility of estimating past disease exposure in absence of infected individuals. This paper aims then to review current mathematical models and corresponding statistical approaches used in antibody data analysis. The application of these models is illustrated with three data sets from Equatorial Guinea, Brazilian Amazonia region, and western Kenyan highlands. A brief discussion is also carried out on the future challenges of using these models in the context of malaria elimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied neurodevelopmental outcomes and behaviours in healthy 2-year old children (N = 1306) from Brazil, India, Italy, Kenya and the UK participating in the INTERGROWTH-21 st Project. There was a positive independent relationship of duration of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) and age at weaning with gross motor development, vision and autonomic physical activities, most evident if children were exclusively breastfed for ≥7 months or weaned at ≥7 months. There was no association with cognition, language or behaviour. Children exclusively breastfed from birth to <5 months or weaned at >6 months had, in a dose-effect pattern, adjusting for confounding factors, higher scores for "emotional reactivity". The positive effect of EBF and age at weaning on gross motor, running and climbing scores was strongest among children with the highest scores in maternal closeness proxy indicators. EBF, late weaning and maternal closeness, associated with advanced motor and vision maturation, independently influence autonomous behaviours in healthy children.

Grassroots women in poor communities are creating their own innovative social protection mechanisms, and often moving beyond this to foster economic growth and prosperity. In this article, we propose an expansion of common understandings of social protection to include these activities initiated by citizens themselves. In this article, we describe strategies being led by grassroots women's community-based organisations in Kenya, Brazil and Peru, where women's self-help groups, networks, federations, and supporting NGOs, have been leading and organising livelihoods, health and food security initiatives for the benefit of their members and communities. Many of the objectives of social protection can best be met by creating a social protection framework that recognises and builds on grassroots women's own initiatives. This would reposition poor women in the social protection debate: recasting them from 'beneficiaries', to become active agents of change, and formal partners with government and development agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

George Monbiot is a prominent writer, environmentalist and campaigner for social justice whose columns for the British newspaper, The Guardian, are widely read across the world. In this interview he speaks candidly about the experiences that led to the publication of his first three books: Poisoned Arrows: An Investigative Journey through Indonesia, Amazon Watershed: The New Environmental Investigation and No Man's Land: An Investigative Journey through Kenya and Tanzania. Significantly, whilst each of these volumes is a work of investigative travel, Monbiot states that he never saw himself as a travel writer. Indeed, Monbiot is rather dismissive of recent British travel writing in general, with the notable exception of figures such as Bruce Chatwin, Charles Nicholl and Wilfred Thesiger, whom he met in Kenya in 1994. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports from a comparative study on systems of quality assurance in 19 countries around the globe, and how these systems function as accountability mechanisms. Based on a theoretical framework for assessing how accountability mechanisms can contribute to build trust in the higher education sector, the analysis of the quality assurance systems underline the dominant role of quality assurance systems as the prime accountability mechanism in the sector, often accompanied by semi-autonomous agencies emphasising various forms of accreditation. Based on an assessment of the quality assurance systems it is still suggested that the current forms of accountability are not stimulating the up-building of trust in and of the sector. In the conclusion, some reflections are offered as alternatives to the current situation.

Although a great deal of time, resources and effort goes into the education of potential or existing entrepreneurs, our knowledge of the effects of this education is still rather limited. It can be argued that an imbalance exists between the substantial amount of finance and manpower invested in entrepreneurship education programmes and the very limited amount of resources invested in the evaluation of these programmes (that is, in analyses of their impact). Based on intercultural research and the personal experiences of the author in the evaluation of entrepreneurship education programmes (EEPs) in developing countries, this paper analyses competing approaches of entrepreneurship education; develops a methodological framework for evaluating these approaches; discusses the main findings of EEP evaluation studies carried out in Brazil, Chile, Kenya, the Philippines and Vietnam; presents "lessons learned" with respect to theoretical and methodological foundations of EEP evaluations and practical problems concerning their implementation; and draws general conclusions for future research and practice. The intercultural evaluations are based on a "most different systems" approach, applying a mix of quantitative (questionnaires with open and closed questions) and qualitative (in-depth interviews, on-site-visits, focus-group discussions) tools of social research. (Contains 1 note, 5 tables, and 3 figures.)

Isolates of Pseudomonas syringae pv. garcae from Kenya and Brazil differed in pathogenic and biochemical characters. In inoculations on Coffea arabica var. SL28 from Kenya, only the Kenyan isolates were virulent. The Kenyan isolates were not bacteriocin producers while the Brazilian isolates were active producers comparable to P. s. syringae from lilac (Syringa vulgaris). Pigment production separated the two types of P. s. garcae isolates distinctly. The Kenyan isolates produced the UV fluorescent yellow-green siderophore while the Brazilian isolates produced a nonfluorescent brown diffusible pigment on King's B medium. API-20NE diagnostic kits were largely ineffective in distinguishing between biochemical reactions of P. s. garcae isolates from Kenya and Brazil or between these and P. s. syringae. Syringomycin activity on lemon and Geotrichum candidum distinguished P. s. syritigae from P. s. garcae isolates. It is concluded that P. s. garcae (as represented by the seven cultures from the National Collection of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria, Harpenden, UK) exists in at least two strains, the Kenyan isolates comprising one strain while the Brazilian isolates comprise one or more distinct strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the rise in pregnant women opting for C-section rather than normal delivery during child birth. It talks about the babies with early term birth through C-section having a higher rate of mortality and morbidity. It tells about patients opting for C-section despite the high cost of C-section as compared to normal delivery.

Background and Objectives: There is a limited evidentiary base on the development of family medicine in different contexts and countries. The lack of evidence impedes our ability to compare and characterize family medicine models and identify areas of success that have led to the effective provision of care. This paper offers a comparative compilation and analysis of the development of family medicine training programs in seven countries: Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya, and Mali., Methods: Using qualitative case studies, this paper examines the process of developing family medicine programs, including enabling strategies and barriers, and shared lessons. An appreciative inquiry framework and complex adaptive systems thinking inform our qualitative study., Results: Committed partnerships, the contribution of champions, health policy, and adaptability were identified as key enablers in all seven case studies. The case studies further reveal that some enablers were more salient in certain contexts as compared to others, and that it is the interaction of enablers that is crucial for understanding how and why initiatives succeeded. The barriers that emerged across the seven case studies include: (1) resistance from other medical specialties, (2) lack of resources and capabilities, (3) difficulty in sustaining support of champions, and (4) challenges in brokering effective partnerships., Conclusions: A key insight from this study is that the implementation of family medicine is nonlinear, dynamic, and complex. The findings of this comparative analysis offer insights and strategies that can inform the design and development of family medicine programs elsewhere.

Background: Most available studies on the psychiatric, neuropsychological, and neurological complications of HIV-1 infection and AIDS have been conducted in Western countries, on samples of well-educated, mostly white, homosexual men. Concerns about generalizability of the results of those investigations prompted the WHO to implement the cross-cultural venture called WHO Neuropsychiatric AIDS study., Methods: This project aims to assess the prevalence and natural history of HIV-1-associated psychiatric, neuropsychological, and neurological abnormalities in representative subject samples enrolled in the five geographic areas predominantly affected by the HIV-1 epidemic. Assessment is made by a data collection instrument including six modules. The intercenter and intracenter reliability in the use of each module has been formally evaluated. The study consists of a cross-sectional phase and a longitudinal follow-up., Results: The cross-sectional phase was completed in five centers. This paper reports on the results of psychiatric assessment, which revealed a significantly higher prevalence of current mental disorders in symptomatic seropositive persons compared with seronegative controls among intravenous drug users in Bangkok and homosexuals/bisexuals in São Paulo. The mean global score on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale was significantly higher in symptomatic seropositive individuals than in matched seronegative controls in all centers., Conclusions: These results suggest that the significance of the psychopathological complications of symptomatic HIV-1 infection may have been underestimated by previous studies conducted on self-selected samples of well-educated, middle-class, mostly white, homosexual men.