The protein antigens secreted in vivo by adult male Schistosoma mansoni

Adult schistosomes can be transferred surgically from donor C57BL/6 mice to the portal veins of naive recipients with complete success. This procedure bypasses larval development and the antibody response of the host is directed against, and can be used to identify, those antigens released only by viable, mature parasites. Serum collected from the recipient mice (WTS) was used in Western blotting studies to probe fractionated parasite protein. Twelve immunodominant proteins were identified, ranging in molecular weight from 14 to 208 kDa. The magnitude of the IgG response against each antigen could be divided into 2 categories, on the basis of optical densitometry of the blots. In addition, defined parasite fractions were probed with WTS by Western blotting, in order to determine the relative abundance and distribution of each antigen in schistosome tissue. To confirm and expand on these initial observations, oligospecific polyclonal antibody for each immunogen was affinity purified from Western blots; it was then used in immunocytochemistry to identify the sources of secretion for 8 of the 12 antigens, at the cellular level. From the results, it appeared that after the transfer of adult worms, the first antibodies detected were mostly directed against the gastrodermis. At later times additional reactivity was expressed against the tegumental membrane. These differences probably reflect the relative abundances of the gut and tegumental secretory products

CIVIC LIFE: Evidence Base for the Triennial Review

This document forms part of the Equality and Human Rights Commission triennial review and covers equalities in civic life. It examines equality in political participation, freedom of language and freedom of worship. The primary aim is to map the various dimensions of equality and inequality in participation in civic and political life. We explore and review equalities, good relations and human rights in relation to civic life, and where possible we examine some of the driving forces behind the differences that we observe

Using Reflexivity to Tame our Subjectivities, Identify our Positionalities, and Explore Our Identities

Presenters will discuss how to utilize reflexivity in an effort to assess the roles subjectivity, positionality, and identity play in qualitative and evaluation research. Presenters will discuss their experiences conducting qualitative and evaluation research as both graduate students and professor researchers. In addition, participants will analyze their subjectivities, positionalities, and identities while identifying reflexive practices that have been most effective

Funding Shortfall for Housing Vouchers Could Have Serious Health Consequences for Children

In the fourth brief in its Policy Action series, Children's HealthWatch finds that unaffordable housing endangers the health and development of young children. Due to a federal funding shortfall, state and local housing agencies will be forced to reduce or eliminate rental assitance to thousands of families starting this month. Voucher cuts will push more families into the ranks of the "hidden homeless" -- families that move frequently, crowd into apartments that are too small, or live doubled up with other households when they cannot find affordable housing. Children in hidden homeless families are at increased risk for poor health, nutrition, and growth, as well as developmental delays. Timely Congressional action to protect the Housing Choice Voucher Program will ensure that families have stable, affordable housing essential to children's health

Characterization of Genotype by Planting Date Effects on Runner-Type Peanut Seed Germination and Vigor Response to Temperature

Experiments evaluated the genotype by environment effects on seed germination and vigor of the peanut runner-type cultivars ‘Georgia Green’, ‘AT3085R0’, ‘AT271516’, ‘Georgia 03L’, and ‘FR458’ grown under similar production practices, for three planting dates: April, May, and June in Georgia and Alabama. Objectives were to determine if time of planting and harvest dates would subsequently affect germination and vigor when tested using a thermal gradient devise (temperature range14 to 35 °C). Runner-type peanut seed grown in Dawson Georgia in 2008 had the strongest seed vigor with Germ80 of 22 to 40 growing degree days (GDD), and maximum incidence of germination rate 84.8-95.7% when planted April, May, and June 2008 across 15 seed lots. In contrast, seed harvested from plantings of May 2009 at Dawson Georgia exhibited Germ80 of 24 to 40 GDD with maximum incidence of germination rate 79.8-93.6%, but seed from April 2009 plantings had poor vigor of 56.8-72.8% and no amount of GDD could achieve Germ80, with similar results for June 2009 plantings for this location. For Headland April, May, and June 2009 plantings of the same cultivars, all seed had poor vigor, ≤75.6% maximum incidence for germination rate, and none obtained a measurable Germ80

Challenging Perceptions of Disability through Performance Poetry Methods: The "Seen but Seldom Heard" Project.

This paper considers performance poetry as a method to explore lived experiences of disability. We discuss how poetic inquiry used within a participatory arts-based research framework can enable young people to collectively question society’s attitudes and actions towards disability. Poetry will be considered as a means to develop a more accessible and effective arena in which young people with direct experience of disability can be empowered to develop new skills that enable them to tell their own stories. Discussion of how this can challenge audiences to critically reflect upon their own perceptions of disability will also be developed

Managing plagiarism in programming assignments with blended assessment and randomisation.

Plagiarism is a common concern for coursework in many situations, particularly where electronic solutions can be provided e.g. computer programs, and leads to unreliability of assessment. Written exams are often used to try to deal with this, and to increase reliability, but at the expense of validity. One solution, outlined in this paper, is to randomise the work that is set for students so that it is very unlikely that any two students will be working on exactly the same problem set. This also helps to address the issue of students trying to outsource their work by paying external people to complete their assignments for them. We examine the effectiveness of this approach and others (including blended assessment) by analysing the spread of similarity scores across four different introductory programming assignments to find the natural similarity i.e. the level of similarity that could reasonably occur without plagiarism. The results of the study indicate that divergent assessment (having more than one possible solution) as opposed to convergent assessment (only one solution) is the dominant factor in natural similarity. A key area for further work is to apply the analysis to a larger sample of programming assignments to better understand the impact of different features of the assignment design on natural similarity and hence the detection of plagiarism

Supplemental measles vaccine antibody response among HIV-infected and -uninfected children in Malawi after 1- and 2-dose primary measles vaccination schedules.

BACKGROUND: The long-term antibody response to measles vaccine (MV) administered at age 6 months with or without subsequent doses is not well documented. METHODS: Measles serum antibody responses were evaluated after a supplemental dose of measles vaccine (sMV) administered at a median age of 20 months among Malawian children who had previously received 2 doses of measles vaccine (MV) at ages 6 and 9 months (HIV-infected and random sample of HIV-uninfected) or 1 dose at age 9 months (random sample of HIV-uninfected). We compared measles antibody seropositivity between groups by enzyme linked immunoassay and seroprotection by plaque reduction neutralization geometric mean concentrations. RESULTS: Of 1756 children enrolled, 887 (50.5%) received a sMV dose following MV at 9 months of age and had specimens available after sMV receipt, including 401 HIV-uninfected children who received one MV dose at 9 months, 464 HIV-uninfected and 22 HIV-infected children who received two doses of MV at ages 6 and 9 months. Among HIV-uninfected children, protective levels of antibody were found post sMV in 90-99% through ages 24-36 months and were not affected by MV schedule. Geometric mean concentration levels of measles antibody were significantly increased post-sMV among those HIV-uninfected children previously non-responsive to vaccination. Among HIV-infected children, the proportion seroprotected increased initially but by 9 months post-sMV was no higher than pre-sMV. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support early 2-dose MV to provide measles immunity for young infants without risk of interference with antibody responses to subsequent MV doses administered as part of SIAs