Improving anthelmintic treatment for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiases through sharing and reuse of individual participant data

The Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO, https://www.iddo.org) has launched a clinical data platform for the collation, curation, standardisation and reuse of individual participant data (IPD) on treatments for two of the most globally important neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), schistosomiasis (SCH) and soil-transmitted helminthiases (STHs). This initiative aims to harness the power of data-sharing by facilitating collaborative joint analyses of pooled datasets to generate robust evidence on the efficacy and safety of anthelminthic treatment regimens. A crucial component of this endeavour has been the development of a Research Agenda to promote engagement with the SCH and STH research and disease control communities by highlighting key questions that could be tackled using data shared through the IDDO platform. Here, we give a contextual overview of the priority research themes articulated in the Research Agenda—a ‘living’ document hosted on the IDDO website—and describe the three-stage consultation process behind its development. We also discuss the sustainability and future directions of the platform, emphasising throughout the power and promise of ethical and equitable sharing and reuse of clinical data to support the elimination of NTDs.

Towards Modelling of Evacuation Behavior and Planning for Emergency Logistics Due to the Philippine Taal Volcanic Eruption in 2020

Emergency evacuation is the immediate escape of people away from a place of an imminent threat to a place of safety. The ability of the households to evacuate is a crucial component in reducing disaster risk. Logistical issues such as a lack of resources during and after the evacuation, as well as road congestion, might arise, especially in short and no-notice calamities such as a volcanic eruption. This study examines the relationship of variables of evacuation logistics of Barangay Banga, Talisay, Batangas in the context of the 2020 Taal Volcanic eruption. A survey was conducted based on the experience of the households during the volcanic eruption. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed for all the variables on household evacuation logistics to understand the behavior of households as they make decisions during emergencies. These variables include the type of evacuation, departure timing, evacuation mode choice, and destination choice. Additionally, a pairwise correlation was employed to identify the influential factors related to household evacuation logistics such as socio-demographic and household characteristics, hazard-related factors as well as their experience with Taal Volcano’s recurring activities. The results of this study aim to provide insights to a better understanding of the evacuation behavior of households in the context of a volcanic eruption and be useful in the evacuation logistics planning of the country.

PROFESSIONAL RETRAINING IN PRE-RETIREMENT ADULTS: CHALLENGES AND RISKS

The article addresses pre-retirement adults as a subject of retraining, while giving special consideration to the correlation between psychological wellbeing and successful education, as well as to the importance of psychological treatment for overcoming challenges at this stage of life. Purpose of our study is to find the prohibitory and contributory factors of pre-retirement professional retraining. Increased retirement age and, as a result, extended work life have become a burning question in Russian society. New pre-retirement adults are facing new challenges – they have to make choices to determine their future career. At the same time, occurring limitations (age, personality, experience, etc.) are causing risks and difficulties in further training. Crucial component of successful acquisition of new information, completion of professional retraining programs and subsequent employment is psychological well-being. National government has developed, implemented, and funded retraining programs. According to the Russian Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, 2019 exceeded the target for fulfilling retraining contracts. However, the statistics does not state if people are actually content with their retraining. Apart from age, there are other factors that can influence education efficiency. Pre-retirement is an important life stage having an array of aspects to be considered in work with this group as they can affect one's mental health. The study results might be used by specialists of employment centers, professional retraining educators, and pre-retirement psychologists.

Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in Sulaimani City High Schools: Challenges and Obstacles

This study addresses teaching critical thinking and problem-solving skills and their impact in high schools of the Kurdistan Region. The basic definitions and strategies of these skills are presented along with different perspectives to closely examine the impacts and the challenges facing both learners and educators. Investigating the role of teachers and their views about the challenges they face is the main question of this study, explored though a semi-structured interview method. The study reveals that teaching critical thinking skills is a crucial component of our education system, and the regional stakeholders have reformed the education system in Kurdistan accordingly during the past five decades. The identified challenges are discussed in this paper to show the significance of a well-planned reformation in teaching methods to promote critical thinking skills via modern strategies and methods.

Adapting serosurveys for the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine era

Population-level immune surveillance, which includes monitoring exposure and assessing vaccine-induced immunity, is a crucial component of public health decision-making during a pandemic. Serosurveys estimating the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the population played a key role in characterizing SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology during the early phases of the pandemic. Existing serosurveys provide infrastructure to continue immune surveillance, but must be adapted to remain relevant in the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine era. Here, we delineate how SARS-CoV-2 serosurveys should be designed to distinguish infection- and vaccine-induced humoral immune responses to efficiently monitor the evolution of the pandemic. We discuss how serosurvey results can inform vaccine distribution to improve allocation efficiency in countries with scarce vaccine supplies and help assess the need for booster doses in countries with substantial vaccine coverage.

You’re Collating Just Fine and Other Lies You’ve Been Telling Yourself

Although textual scholars agree that collation is a crucial component of the editing process, it often goes undefined and only briefly explained. This article defines the term, explains different kinds of collation, and explores some of its applications. We emphasize stemmatology and medieval textual traditions. By drawing from editorial examples and the theoretical frameworks of projects centred on works such as the Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, Dante’s Commedia and the Greek New Testament, the article seeks to compare manual and computer-assisted approaches to collation methods. We delineate the scope of this activity and argue that computer-assisted collation minimizes the risk of missing out on relevant data. We examine the advantages of full-text collation over sample collation and conclude that no decisions about stemmatically significant variation can be made a priory and that variant distribution is the major factor weighing on significance.

Diversity and Function of Wolf Spider Gut Microbiota Revealed by Shotgun Metagenomics

Wolf spiders (Lycosidae) are crucial component of integrated pest management programs and the characteristics of their gut microbiota are known to play important roles in improving fitness and survival of the host. However, there are only few studies of the gut microbiota among closely related species of wolf spider. Whether wolf spiders gut microbiota vary with habitats remains unknown. Here, we used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to compare the gut microbiota of two wolf spider species, Pardosa agraria and P. laura from farmland and woodland ecosystems, respectively. The results show that the gut microbiota of Pardosa spiders is similar in richness and abundance. Approximately 27.3% of the gut microbiota of P. agraria comprises Proteobacteria, and approximately 34.5% of the gut microbiota of P. laura comprises Firmicutes. We assembled microbial genomes and found that the gut microbiota of P. laura are enriched in genes for carbohydrate metabolism. In contrast, those of P. agraria showed a higher proportion of genes encoding acetyltransferase, an enzyme involved in resistance to antibiotics. We reconstructed three high-quality and species-level microbial genomes: Vulcaniibacterium thermophilum, Anoxybacillus flavithermus and an unknown bacterium belonging to the family Simkaniaceae. Our results contribute to an understanding of the diversity and function of gut microbiota in closely related spiders.

Genomic analyses identify biological processes of pancreatic cancer after radiotherapy

Radiotherapy is a crucial component in the treatment of pancreatic cancer such as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the key molecules and mechanisms are not fully understood. In this study, our objective is to identify the significant molecules and potential signaling pathways in the processes of PDAC after radiotherapy by analyzing the RNA sequence. The GSE185311 dataset was created by using the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 (Homo sapiens). The KEGG and GO analyses indicated that "apoptosis", "TNF signaling", and "NF-κB signaling" are the main functional processes during radiotherapy. Moreover, we determined numerous genes including FDXR, DDB2, LY6H, ZMAT3, GPR174, LYNX1, CD300C, SPATA18, HLA-DQB1, and CEND1 by using the String and PPI network. Thus, our study may guide the clinical work on the treatment of PDAC through radiotherapy.

Insight into the role of cyanobacterial bloom in the trophic link between ciliates and predatory copepods

An important group of protozooplankton, the ciliates, are a crucial component of aquatic food webs. They are the main grazers on bacteria and algae transferring carbon to higher levels of the food web (metazooplankton and fish fry). Changes in the quality and quantity of protozooplankton can modify the quality and quantity of metazooplankton, especially predatory copepods, causing changes in energy transfer and the matter cycle. Observable climate change is one of the most significant factors promoting the increase of cyanobacterial blooms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to find out how cyanobacterial blooms modify relationships between ciliates (prey) and copepods (predator), and to discover possible pathways of changes in freshwater food webs. We analysed the relationship between the biomass of predatory copepods and feeding guilds of ciliates (algivorous, bacterivorous, bacteri-algivorous). The relationship of predators biomass with algivorous and bacteri-algivorous ciliate biomasses, with a simultaneous lack of relationship with bacterivorous ciliate biomass, demonstrates that bacterial fixed carbon may be only partially contributing to the total energy passed through this link. Results demonstrated that the bloom enhanced the relationship between prey and predator. Larger and free-swimming ciliate species appear to play a greater role in energy transfer than smaller sedentary species.

Against Jugaad: Making a Case for Design as Innovation

This paper examines jugaad through the lens of design as problem-solving and a driver of innovation. We include a range of design disciplines that have spatial and material impacts from architecture and urban planning to product design. The paper starts with a brief description of the ways in which jugaad is currently understood, and then proceeds to make the case for why jugaad is neither quality design nor frugal innovation. Our argument draws on a wide-ranging survey of jugaad as an idea across several fields, a series of in-depth interviews where we asked our interlocutors to use examples of work to situate their responses, and our engagement with Charles and Ray Eames’ ideas on design process and pedagogy in The India Report (1958, rep. 1997). In doing so, we wish to not just be against jugaad but to go beyond it, reading it as a crucial component of the design and innovation process but not the design solution or innovation itself.