Growth velocity in children with environmental enteric dysfunction is associated with specific bacterial and viral taxa of the gastrointestinal tract in Malawian children

Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is characterized by diffuse villous atrophy of the small bowel. EED is strongly associated with stunting, a major public health problem linked to increased childhood morbidity and mortality. EED and subsequent stunting of linear growth are surmised to have microbial origins. To interrogate this relationship, we defined the comprehensive virome (eukaryotic virus and bacteriophage) and bacterial microbiome of a longitudinal cohort of rural Malawian children with extensive metadata and intestinal permeability testing at each time point. We found thirty bacterial taxa differentially associated with linear growth. We detected many eukaryotic viruses. Neither the total number of eukaryotic families nor a specific viral family was statistically associated with improved linear growth. We identified 3 differentially abundant bacteriophage among growth velocities. Interestingly, there was a positive correlation between bacteria and bacteriophage richness in children with subsequent adequate/moderate growth which children with subsequent poor growth lacked. This suggests that a disruption in the equilibrium between bacteria and bacteriophage communities might be associated with subsequent poor growth. Future studies of EED and stunting should include the evaluation of viral communities in addition to bacterial microbiota to understand the complete microbial ecology of these poorly understood entities

Homeostatic interferon-lambda response to bacterial microbiota stimulates preemptive antiviral defense within discrete pockets of intestinal epithelium

Interferon-lambda (IFN-λ) protects intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) from enteric viruses by inducing expression of antiviral IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs). Here, we find that bacterial microbiota stimulate a homeostatic ISG signature in the intestine of specific pathogen-free mice. This homeostatic ISG expression is restricted to IECs, depends on IEC-intrinsic expression of IFN-λ receptor

Intestinal antiviral signaling is controlled by autophagy gene Epg5 independent of the microbiota

Mutations in the macroautophagy/autophagy gen

“The land is talking to me”: An interview with Jamal Juma’ on meanings of land, decolonization, resistance and solidarity from Palestine

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Do We Want Something New Or Just Repetition of 1492?: Engaging with the “Next” Moment in Curriculum Studies

This paper unpacks an unsettling encounter the author has (as doctoral student) with curriculum studies and its colonial, heteropatriarchical and white supremacist logics. In trying to settle, the unsettling encounter, the paper attempts to examine key questions in curriculum studies, ‘what is worthwhile knowing, what knowledge is of most worth’ and what work does curriculum studies do? This paper seeks to think through, within and against these questions in relation to the curriculum studies canon project proposed by the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies. The article is an invitation that calls scholars to think about forging new pathways towards the ‘next moment’ in curriculum studies through decolonization, solidarity and rupturing the descriptive statement of the human in looking towards the future of the field. Though this piece may be read as provocation, if curriculum scholars truly want to (re)conceptualize something “new”, a shift needs to take place

Children under Occupation: Trafficking in North India, Sustainable Rehabilitation or Re-Commodification?

In India, even after 60 years of Independence, millions of children live under occupation, as they are physically, mentally, emotionally controlled and trapped in exploitative conditions and are forced to labour through the process of trafficking. Social structures (economic, political, education, caste and gender systems) through various sources of hegemony oppress marginalized groups making them vulnerable to trafficking. Many non-governmental organizations partake in rescue and rehabilitation efforts through their programs. Although such programs are well intentioned the question of sustainability of rehabilitation is at the forefront of this study. The primary research question that this study shall address is: what sustainable rehabilitation is required for children who have been trafficked for forced labour to prevent re-trafficking? The study has tried to understand the root causes that perpetuate trafficking; in turn, it has also attempted to assess the status of rehabilitation and what needs to be done to prevent re-trafficking. To obtain this data, interviews of those working in non-governmental organizations on the issue of trafficking in India, were interviewed. Through the inquiry it was discerned that in spite of the positive elements of rehabilitation seen in the children, its sustainability is difficult to achieve because of the socio-economic problems rooted in social structures that continue to persist in the children’s environment at home. As such, these factors make it difficult for rehabilitation to be sustainable, and in some cases also lead to re-trafficking of children into labour. Thus, larger level issues embedded in the hegemonic social structures need to be challenged to reduce oppression and set these children free

Children under Occupation: Trafficking in North India, Sustainable Rehabilitation or Re-Commodification?

In India, even after 60 years of Independence, millions of children live under occupation, as they are physically, mentally, emotionally controlled and trapped in exploitative conditions and are forced to labour through the process of trafficking. Social structures (economic, political, education, caste and gender systems) through various sources of hegemony oppress marginalized groups making them vulnerable to trafficking. Many non-governmental organizations partake in rescue and rehabilitation efforts through their programs. Although such programs are well intentioned the question of sustainability of rehabilitation is at the forefront of this study. The primary research question that this study shall address is: what sustainable rehabilitation is required for children who have been trafficked for forced labour to prevent re-trafficking? The study has tried to understand the root causes that perpetuate trafficking; in turn, it has also attempted to assess the status of rehabilitation and what needs to be done to prevent re-trafficking. To obtain this data, interviews of those working in non-governmental organizations on the issue of trafficking in India, were interviewed. Through the inquiry it was discerned that in spite of the positive elements of rehabilitation seen in the children, its sustainability is difficult to achieve because of the socio-economic problems rooted in social structures that continue to persist in the children’s environment at home. As such, these factors make it difficult for rehabilitation to be sustainable, and in some cases also lead to re-trafficking of children into labour. Thus, larger level issues embedded in the hegemonic social structures need to be challenged to reduce oppression and set these children free

“Neoliberal apartheid”: Challenges for decolonization from South Africa to Palestine (An interview with Andy Clarno)

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