Linking Home-Based Child Care and State-Funded Preschool: The Community Connections Preschool Program (Illinois Action for Children): Evaluation Phase 1 — Implementation Study

The Community Connections preschool program (herein referred to as Community Connections) was developed to help prepare children in home-based child care for success in school and in life. It has three goals: (1) to make state prekindergarten classroom experiences available to children in home-based care, (2) to extend classroom learning experiences in the home-based care setting, and (3) to support infant and toddler development in participating providers' homes. In this model, state prekindergarten (Illinois "Preschool for All") classrooms provide half-day sessions four days per week for 3- and 4-year-old children coming from home-based child care. On the fifth day, the teachers visit children's care providers; delivering books and educational materials, modeling ways to extend curriculum activities, and discussing children's learning in the classroom. While preschoolers are in classrooms away from the home-based care setting, providers have precious time to focus on the needs of infants and toddlers in their care. Illinois Action for Children (herein referred to as IAFC) created the Community Connections program model in 2005 as Illinois was rapidly expanding its state prekindergarten program, which would ultimately change from serving exclusively at-risk children to become "Preschool for All." As the Preschool for All program grew, it became clear that large numbers of preschoolers in home-based care were being left out. Home-based care is the only option for many parents in low-wage jobs because those jobs tend to require non-traditional work hours — evenings, weekends, and changing shifts ““ when child care centers are closed. In Illinois, 67% of low-income single mothers with children under six work non-traditional hours (Illinois Action for Children, 2006). These mothers overwhelmingly choose home-based child care, usually provided by family, friends and neighbors. According to Illinois Child Care Assistance Program data, among families using the Child Care Assistance Program in Cook County, 58% have enrolled their children in home-based child care (22% in licensed homes and 36% in license-exempt Family, Friend and Neighbor care). While home-based child care is a significant community asset, preschool-age children tend to learn cognitive school readiness skills best in classroom settings (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2002). In 2005, IAFC developed Community Connections to support home-based child care while adding a classroom-based experience to the children's day. This new program represents a third model through which state prekindergarten services are delivered in Illinois. The two most common models are part-day school-based programs and full-day programs delivered in conjunction with child care centers. As a third model, Community Connections has the potential to reach a large population of unserved children

Gender-based violence and its determinants during the COVID-19 lockdown in a low-income country: a cross-sectional survey

Background:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recent global pandemic associated with multidimensional health-related effects. In the fight against the spread of this novel pandemic, the majority have been living under restrictive conditions during its related lockdown that has created a conducive environment for gender-based violence (GBV). Our study aimed to ascertain the burden and determinants of GBV during the COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdown and curfew (CPLC) in Uganda.Methods:We conducted a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study in Bushenyi-Ishaka municipality, southwestern Uganda in May, 2020. This study involved 339 adult participants regardless of their gender or ethnicity. Only 12 potential respondents declined to participate in this survey.Results:The prevalence of GBV during the CPLC was 42 per cent. The majority (57%) of victims were women. More than half (54%) of the victims and survivors of GBV attributed the violence to the lockdown. The determinants of GBV included being married, using substances of abuse and having financial problems.Conclusion:The prevalence of GBV skyrocketed during the CPLC in Uganda when compared to the period prior to the pandemic. Women were significantly more affected in all aspects of GBV. Therefore, we recommend developing targeted behavioural change communication strategies based upon our findings.NWO481.20.1.3

SBP2 Binding Affinity Is a Major Determinant in Differential Selenoprotein mRNA Translation and Sensitivity to Nonsense-Mediated Decay▿ †

Selenoprotein mRNAs are potential targets for degradation via nonsense-mediated decay due to the presence of in-frame UGA codons that can be decoded as either selenocysteine or termination codons. When UGA decoding is inefficient, as occurs when selenium is limiting, termination occurs at these positions. Based on the predicted exon-intron structure, 14 of the 25 human selenoprotein mRNAs are predicted to be sensitive to nonsense-mediated decay. Among these, sensitivity varies widely, resulting in a hierarchy of preservation or degradation of selenoprotein mRNAs and, thus, of selenoprotein synthesis. Potential factors in dictating the hierarchy of selenoprotein synthesis are the Sec insertion sequence RNA-binding proteins, SBP2 and nucleolin. To investigate the mechanistic basis for this hierarchy and the role of these two proteins, we carried out knockdowns of SBP2 expression and assessed the effects on selenoprotein mRNA levels. We also investigated in vivo binding of selenoprotein mRNAs by SBP2 and nucleolin via immunoprecipitation of the proteins and quantitation of bound mRNAs. We report that SBP2 exhibits strong preferential binding to some selenoprotein mRNAs over others, whereas nucleolin exhibits minimal differences in binding. Thus, SBP2 is a major determinant in dictating the hierarchy of selenoprotein synthesis via differential selenoprotein mRNA translation and sensitivity to nonsense-mediated decay

Linked Tumor-Selective Virus Replication and Transgene Expression from E3-Containing Oncolytic Adenoviruses

Historically, the adenoviral E3 region was found to be nonessential for viral replication in vitro. In addition, adenoviruses whose genome was more than approximately 105% the size of the native genome were inefficiently packaged. These profound observations were used experimentally to insert transgenes into the adenoviral backbone. More recently, however, the reintroduction of the E3 region into oncolytic adenoviruses has been found to positively influence antitumor efficacy in preclinical models and clinical trials. In the studies reported here, the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) cDNA sequence has been substituted for the E3-gp19 gene in oncolytic adenoviruses that otherwise retained the E3 region. Five viruses that differed slightly in the method of transgene insertion were generated and compared to Ar6pAE2fGmF (E2F/GM/ΔE3), a previously described E3-deleted oncolytic adenovirus encoding GM-CSF. In all of the viruses, the human E2F-1 promoter regulated E1A expression and GM-CSF expression was under the control of the adenoviral E3 promoter and the packaging signal was relocated immediately upstream from the right terminal repeat. The E3-gp19-deleted viruses had similar cytolytic properties, as measured in vitro by cytotoxicity assays, but differed markedly in their capacity to express and secrete GM-CSF. Ar15pAE2fGmF (E2F/GM/E3b), the virus that produced the highest levels of GM-CSF and retained the native GM-CSF leader sequence, was selected for further analysis. The E2F/GM/E3b and E2F/GM/ΔE3 viruses exhibited similar cytotoxic activity and GM-CSF production in several tumor cell lines in vitro. However, when compared in vivo in nude mouse xenograft tumor models, E2F/GM/E3b spread through tumors to a greater extent, resulted in higher peak GM-CSF and total exposure levels in both tumor and serum, and was more efficacious than the E3-deleted virus. Using the matched WI-38 (parental) and WI-38-VA13 (simian virus 40 large T antigen transformed) cell pair, GM-CSF was shown to be selectively produced in cells expressing high levels of E2F, indicating that the tumor-selective E2F promoter controlled E1A and GM-CSF expression