INFLUENCE OF SENSITIZATION OF ENGLISH TEACHERS TOWARDS INTERNAL INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION ON THEIR TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KAKAMEGA COUNTY, KENYA

Instructional supervision is key to effective teaching. Whereas emphasis has been put on external instructional supervision, less attention has been given to Internal Instructional Supervision (IIS), probably because its influence on teaching effectiveness is yet to be established. Kakamega County is the second largest County in terms of population yet achievement in English is low at a mean score of 5.28 in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (2007-2012). The County’s Panel of Standards Assessment report, 2010 and 2011 pegged this to weak IIS structures. The purpose of this study was to establish influence of sensitization of teachers of English towards IIS on their teaching effectiveness. A conceptual framework constituting of sensitization of teachers of English towards internal instructional supervision as the independent variables and teaching effectiveness as the dependent variable was used. The study used ex-post –facto, correlation and descriptive survey. Population was 13 Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (QUASO), 247 principals, 247 HODs and 494 English Teachers (ET). It sampled 13 QUASO, 74 principals, 74 HODs and 215 teachers purposively. Questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis guide were used. To establish validity, the instruments were given to experts in language pedagogy. A pilot study was conducted using 10% of the population; hence, 24 principals, 24 HODs and 50 teachers were used to establish reliability. Quantitative data was analysed using frequencies, percentages and Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression. Qualitative data was transcribed, categorized and reported in themes relevant to the study. Findings revealed that teachersof English had been greatly sensitized on professional documents but least sensitized on purpose of IIS and they were rarely sensitized on matters of IIS through in-service. The study concludes that sensitization of ET towards IIS is not a significant factor of predicting teaching effectiveness and only 10.4 % of teaching effectiveness can be predicted by sensitization of ET towards IIS. The study thus recommends that stakeholders of IIS should sensitize teachers of English on the purpose of IIS, frequency of conducting IIS, teacher preparedness towards IIS and exposure through in-service since these are positively significant to teaching effectiveness.  Article visualizations

Examination of the Catalytic Role of the Axial Cystine Ligand in the Co-Type Nitrile Hydratase from \u3cem\u3ePseudonocardia thermophila\u3c/em\u3e JCM 3095

The strictly conserved αSer162 residue in the Co-type nitrile hydratase from Pseudonocardia thermophila JCM 3095 (PtNHase), which forms a hydrogen bond to the axial αCys108-S atom, was mutated into an Ala residue. The αSer162Ala yielded two different protein species: one was the apoform (αSerA) that exhibited no observable activity, and the second (αSerB) contained its full complement of cobalt ions and was active with a kcat value of 63 ± 3 s−1 towards acrylonitrile at pH 7.5. The X-ray crystal structure of was determined at 1.85 Å resolution and contained no detectable cobalt per α2β2 heterotetramer. The axial αCys108 ligand itself was also mutated into Ser, Met, and His ligands. All three of these αCys108 mutant enzymes contained only half of the cobalt complement of wild-type PtNHase, but were able to hydrate acrylonitrile with kcat values of 120 ± 6, 29 ± 3, and 14 ± 1 s−1 for the αCys108His, Ser, and Met mutant enzymes, respectively. As all three of these mutant enzymes are catalytically competent, these data provide the first experimental evidence that transient disulfide bond formation is not catalytically essential for NHases

Validation of three geolocation strategies for health-facility attendees for research and public health surveillance in a rural setting in western Kenya.

Understanding the spatial distribution of disease is critical for effective disease control. Where formal address networks do not exist, tracking spatial patterns of clinical disease is difficult. Geolocation strategies were tested at rural health facilities in western Kenya. Methods included geocoding residence by head of compound, participatory mapping and recording the self-reported nearest landmark. Geocoding was able to locate 72·9% [95% confidence interval (CI) 67·7-77·6] of individuals to within 250 m of the true compound location. The participatory mapping exercise was able to correctly locate 82·0% of compounds (95% CI 78·9-84·8) to a 2 × 2·5 km area with a 500 m buffer. The self-reported nearest landmark was able to locate 78·1% (95% CI 73·8-82·1) of compounds to the correct catchment area. These strategies tested provide options for quickly obtaining spatial information on individuals presenting at health facilities

Sampling of An.gambiae s.s mosquitoes using Limburger cheese, heat and moisture as baits in a homemade trap

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ample evidence has shown that odour baited traps are likely to provide an objective monitoring tool for the host-seeking fraction of mosquito vectors of diseases like malaria and bancroftian filariasis. Such traps could eventually become part of primary healthcare systems used to study the vector biology and epidemiology of mosquito-borne diseases. I hereby, report a study that sampled <it>Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto </it>mosquitoes in a screen house using a homemade trap baited with a combination of Limburger cheese and moisture, Limburger cheese and heat, or Limburger cheese, moisture and heat.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Tests on the efficacy of the developed trap to sample <it>An. gambiae s.s</it>, mosquitoes using Limburger cheese, moisture and heat as baits were carried out in a screen house measuring 11.4 × 7.1 × 2.8 m. The studies were done in three phases. In the first phase the efficacy of the trap to sample <it>An. gambiae s.s</it>. using odour and moisture was tested. The second phase was to test the efficacy of the trap to sample <it>An. gambiae s.s</it>. using Limburger cheese and heat. In the third phase a combination of Limburger cheese, moisture and heat was tested. Tests were carried out for 27 consecutive nights.</p> <p>The designed trap collected a total of 59 <it>An. gambiae s.s</it>. in three trials. The trap baited with Limburger cheese and moisture collected 7 <it>An. gambiae s.s </it>in 7 days. The mean catch per day was 1. The trap baited with Limburger cheese and heat collected zero <it>An. gambiae s.s </it>in 11 days. The mean catch per day was therefore 0. The trap baited with Limburger cheese, moisture and heat collected 52 mosquitoes in 27 days and the mean catch was 1.93.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study indicates that a non-electric fan driven trap baited with a combination of Limburger cheese, heat and moisture has a potential as an effective sampling tool for the malaria vector, <it>Anopheles gambiae s.s</it>. However, further optimization studies would be necessary.</p

Predictors of linkage to care following community-based HIV counseling and testing in rural Kenya

Despite innovations in HIV counseling and testing (HCT), important gaps remain in understanding linkage to care. We followed a cohort diagnosed with HIV through a community-based HCT campaign that trained persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) as navigators. Individual, interpersonal, and institutional predictors of linkage were assessed using survival analysis of self-reported time to enrollment. Of 483 persons consenting to follow-up, 305 (63.2%) enrolled in HIV care within 3 months. Proportions linking to care were similar across sexes, barring a sub-sample of men aged 18–25 years who were highly unlikely to enroll. Men were more likely to enroll if they had disclosed to their spouse, and women if they had disclosed to family. Women who anticipated violence or relationship breakup were less likely to link to care. Enrolment rates were significantly higher among participants receiving a PLHA visit, suggesting that a navigator approach may improve linkage from community-based HCT campaigns.Vestergaard Frandse

Developments in the science of zein, kafirin, and gluten protein bioplastic materials

Despite much research, there are very few commercial prolamin bio-plastics. The major reason, apart from their high cost, is that they have inferior functional properties compared to synthetic polymer plastics. This is because the prolamins are complex, each consisting of several classes and sub-classes and the functional properties of their bio-plastics are greatly affected by water. Prolamin bio-plastics are produced by protein aggregation from a solvent or by thermoplastic processing. Recent research indicates that protein aggregation occurs by polypeptide self-assembly into nanostructures. Protein secondary structure in terms of α- helical and β-sheet structure seems to play a key, but incompletely understood role in assembly. Also, there is inadequate knowledge as to how these nanostructures further assemble and organize into the various forms of prolamin bio-plastics such as films, fibres, microparticles and scaffolds. Some improvements in bio-plastic functionality have been made by better prolamin solvation, plasticization, physical and chemical cross-linking, derivatization and blending with other polymers. The most promising area of commercialization is the biomedical field where the relative hydrophilicity, compatibility and biodegradability of particularly zein and kafirin are advantageous. With regard to biomedical applications, “supramolecular design” of prolamin bio-plastics through control over interand intramolecular weak interactions and SS/SH interchange between and within polypeptides appears to have considerable potential.University of Pretoria doctoral bursaryhttp://cerealchemistry.aaccnet.org/hb201

HIV-1 Drug Resistance Emergence among Breastfeeding Infants Born to HIV-Infected Mothers during a Single-Arm Trial of Triple-Antiretroviral Prophylaxis for Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission: A Secondary Analysis

Analysis of a substudy of the Kisumu breastfeeding trial by Clement Zeh and colleagues reveals the emergence of HIV drug resistance in HIV-positive infants born to HIV-infected mothers treated with antiretroviral drugs

PDBe-KB: collaboratively defining the biological context of structural data

The Protein Data Bank in Europe - Knowledge Base (PDBe-KB, https://pdbe-kb.org) is an open collaboration between world-leading specialist data resources contributing functional and biophysical annotations derived from or relevant to the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The goal of PDBe-KB is to place macromolecular structure data in their biological context by developing standardised data exchange formats and integrating functional annotations from the contributing partner resources into a knowledge graph that can provide valuable biological insights. Since we described PDBe-KB in 2019, there have been significant improvements in the variety of available annotation data sets and user functionality. Here, we provide an overview of the consortium, highlighting the addition of annotations such as predicted covalent binders, phosphorylation sites, effects of mutations on the protein structure and energetic local frustration. In addition, we describe a library of reusable web-based visualisation components and introduce new features such as a bulk download data service and a novel superposition service that generates clusters of superposed protein chains weekly for the whole PDB archive