Identifying Genes that Affect Lactococcus lactis Intron Mobility

A gene consists of coding segments, exons, which are maintained and contribute to the final mRNA product, while non-coding segments, introns, are spliced out through RNA splicing mechanisms to code a functional gene. The mobility of the spliced introns and factors that affect mobility are an important field of study evolutionarily whereas splicing defects have medical implications. For this study, the genome of the Lactococcus lactis bacterial strain, IL1403 and the group II intron of interest, L1.LtrB were utilized. This intron moves into new sites on DNA by a process termed retrotransposition (RTP). Our goal is to identify genes that regulate retrotransposition of L1.LtrB in L. lactis. To do this, we are making a transposon mutant library in L. lactis strain IL1403. The pG+host::ISS1 plasmid was used to introduce the ISS1 transposon into the genome of IL1403 at random positions, creating a library of mutants. The intron donor plasmid, containing the Ll.LtrB intron was also introduced into IL1403 and later used for retrotransposition assays that will determine the degree by which certain genes affect Ll. LtrB intron mobility. We have also developed a method to screen mutants for RTP levels via hybridization and selective media. So far we have generated over 1000 mutants with several showing stimulatory or inhibitory effects on retrotransposition. Genetic recombineering will follow allowing recreation of mutants for further analysis. This will occur after high-throughput sequencing which will localize specific genes that will give clues as to which host facts increase or decrease retrotransposition

Correlational Analysis Between Depression and Health Behavior Among Employees in the State of Louisiana

Depression has become a canker that is eating up the social fabric of the majority of the employees in the State of Louisiana. Depression is a complex condition that requires intervention since it can affect anyone. There are side effects of depression, such as mental, physical, and social behavior, but this study looks at the psychological side effects in the form of mental health. The research is quantitative by nature and utilizes data from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps for the State of Louisiana. Sixty-four counties were used, for a period of 3 years; that is from 2016 to 2018. Correlation analysis and linear regression model were used to analyze the health behaviors of depressed employees. The two variables considered for the study include smoking and obesity. The report was done to observe if depression causes people to exhibit health behaviors such as smoking and excessive eating leading to obesity. As part of the findings, the study underscores that depressed employees’ actions have a higher adverse effect on work outcome. Also, employers’ attitudes are vital in effectively managing depression within the workplace. Above all, the results highlight the need for more considerable attention to an individual with a mental health problem. The study recommends that the early symptoms and notification by the management of an employee who is undergoing a level of unhealthy behavior should be advised to seek medical assistance or possibly be enrolled by the administration for support. Keywords: Depression, Mentally Unhealthy, Health Behaviors, Employees, Workplace DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/9-8-06 Publication date: August 31st 201

IMPACT OF HOUSE DESIGN ON THE ENTRY AND EXIT OF INSECT DISEASE VECTORS IN THE GAMBIA

The impact of house design on the entry and exit of insect vectors of disease in The Gambia House design may affect the exposure of the residents to vector-borne diseases in rural areas in Africa. Improving a house by simply closing the eaves gap or by installing a ceiling could go a long way to preventing diseases such as malaria, which is killing millions of people every year. These two structural adjustments were the main focus of this thesis, which addresses three major questions: 1. What effect does eave closure have on mosquito house entry in houses that have screened doors and no other route of entry? 2. Are torn ceilings treated with insecticide as good as intact untreated ceilings at preventing mosquito house entry? 3. Is full screening and/or screened ceilings efficacious at preventing house entry by houseflies? To determine the importance of eaves to mosquito house entry, a crossover study was conducted using 12 single-roomed houses with screened doors, in which the eaves were either open or closed for half of the study. Closing the eave gaps reduced the house entry of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae s.l. by 65%, but no significant reduction was observed for culicine mosquitoes. To test the efficacy of insecticide-treated torn ceilings against mosquito house entry, three different insecticide treatments were compared with an intact untreated ceiling, an untreated torn ceiling, and a no ceiling control, using six experimental huts, with a man sleeping under an untreated bednet in each hut. Here treatments were rotated between different huts on different nights. The insecticide-treated ceilings failed to reduce the number of vectors entering the hut compared with the untreated torn ceilings. Finally, the number of houseflies, pests of public health importance, entering fully screened and screened-ceiling houses was estimated by sticky trap catches. The findings indicate that anopheline mosquitoes largely enter houses through open eaves, whilst culicine mosquitoes enter through the doors. Failure to demonstrate enhanced protection with the insecticide-treated torn ceilings may have resulted from a failure of the insecticides to adhere well to the treated fabric. Fully screened houses reduced housefly entry by 24% whereas ceilings increased the houseflies by 440% compared to unscreened houses. It is likely that the increase in houseflies in houses with screened ceilings was an artefact caused by sticky traps over-estimating the number of flies in a room. Whilst ceilings failed to reduce flies entering houses, fully screened doors and windows were protective. These results demonstrate that simple changes in house design can reduce the risk of exposure to malaria and flies. However, further work is required to determine whether different insecticide formulations on screening can increase the efficacy of this intervention. These studies demonstrate that house screening can play an important role in the control of malaria, and perhaps other diseases as well

A construal of the understanding level of quality assurance by internal stakeholders in two Malaysian universities

The “understanding” in terms of interpretation of quality assurance is essential for the acceptance, theorizing and the practical application of the methods proposed by it. A great deal of research papers have often pointed to the lack of understanding, among others, as the reason behind the inadequate nature of implementing quality assurance in higher education institutes. This paper examines the “understanding” levels of two key stakeholders in terms of the meaning they make out of the policy pronouncements on quality. It utilizes the qualitative case study scheme to provoke the thoughts of mainly the academic staff and their administrative counterparts in two public universities. The findings reveal that there exist differences which are mainly grounded on their role and experience in the scope of understanding the purposes served by quality, and the depths of quality management fulfillment among the two categories of stakeholders. This underpins the value of clarifying the philosophy of quality assurance to stakeholders and their involvement for better understanding and ownership

SOCIAL BUSINESS: GAINING STEAM FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

The world is faced with a multitude of pressing problems and needs such as hunger, poverty, disease, poor health care, homelessness, pollution, adverse climate conditions, and other environmental hazards, just to name a few. Volunteer work, charities, and donations and of course the traditional profit-making businesses with all the elegant economic theories surrounding them have not been able address these ills which are a serious plaque to the society. In a bid to satisfactorily reduce or put an end to these societal hazards, Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and the practical genius who pioneered microcredit with his Grameen Bank, has initiated what is today known as social business. Social business is a new kind of business, not for profits, that is dedicated to solving a particular social, economic, or environmental problem that has plagued mankind since time immemorial. The whole idea about social business is to improve the lives of people by harnessing the energy of profit making to the objectives of fulfilling basic human needs. The resounding success stories of the Grameen Bank, the very first social business created by Muhammad Yunus has paved the way for other organizations to follow suit. This paper has demonstrated how social business has moved from a mere theory to a practice undertaken by several organizations that is transforming lives and having the potential to redeem the failed promise of the free-market enterprise

Correlation between the Availability of Resources and Efficiency of the School System within the Framework of the Implementation of Competency-Based Teaching Approaches in Cameroon

The study takes an in-depth examination of the extent to which the availability of resources relates to the efficiency of the school system within the framework of the implementation of competency-based teaching approaches in Cameroon. The study employed a mix of probability sampling approaches, namely simple, cluster and stratified random sampling techniques to select the 375 teacher-respondents and purposive sampling technique to select the 26 principals for the study. Data collected through questionnaire and interview schedules were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20.0. The findings indicated that there is a significant relationship between the availability of resources and the efficiency of the school system. The magnitude of the relationship that exists was rated low. It is thus recommended that a legislation that institutes an education tax on all workers of the formal sector in Cameroon be enacted to take care of the inadequate resources. Keywords: Competency-Based Teaching Approaches (CBTAs), Efficiency, Implementation, Resources

African students’ access to higher education is a priority for the continent’s development

It is argued that a major development challenge for Africa is a lack of skilled professionals to manage institutions, which tertiary education can address. A reinvigorated focus on higher education on the continent has led to new universities with innovative approaches, often with a pan-African ethos, but in a post-COVID world financial barriers and a lack of clear information remain significant obstacles

Quality management in Asian universities: lessons from the European and American universities

Quality management has taken ascendancy in the universities in particular due, inter alia, to the loss of their status as ivory towers. Hence, quality management in universities takes prominence over several other initiatives. Attention is not only drawn on whether it is primed in universities but also on its practicability and the mechanism for gauging how it is performing. The first pronouncement that comes from universities in their websites, advertisements, and banners and indeed in any policy pronouncement or at any other opportunity is how they are committed to quality, what is being done about it and the status of quality management. This paper compares the quality management in the western and American universities and what Asian countries have learnt from both. Their interaction and corresponding accountability to regulating agencies prompt them to align their existence to such needs into their higher educational frameworks

RECALIBRATING BIBLICAL DISCOURSE INTO AFRICAN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES THROUGH REWRITING

Bible translators, especially those involved with translating the bible into African indigenous languages have become the torch bearers of evangelism and the proliferation of Christian literature in many communities. Thus, translators face the arduous task of expressing the often inaccessible, ancient and eternal message of the bible into local languages. Translating biblical concepts, ideas, rituals with efficacy such that the native audience experience the same evangelical effect, is the challenge that many bible translators are constantly called upon to grapple with. A poor rendering of biblical concepts, rituals, etc. may lead to ‘de-evangilization’ instead of evangelization, which is the main thrust of bible translation. This study therefore sets out to find out how the New Testament Book of Mark has been translated from English into Mokpe. Has the Book been translated or re-written, and if so, how? The study has as objective, to: (1) explain the relevance of rewriting in the translation of biblical discourse from English into an African indigenous language like Mokpe, and (2) to provide the strategies that have been employed to translate the bible from English into Mokpe through the strategy of rewriting. The study employed a corpus-based and analytical research design. 10 (ten) phraseological excerpts were selected from both the source and target texts and analyzed following Fairclough’s three dimensional model of critical discourse analysis (CDA). Findings reveal that the following micro-strategies were used to recalibrate or rewrite biblical discourse from English into Mokpe, with varying frequencies of occurrence: transposition (30%), modulation (50%), calque (10%), and substitution (10%)

Hepatic steatosis and fibrosis: Non-invasive assessment

Chronic liver disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and usually develops over many years, as a result of chronic inflammation and scarring, resulting in end-stage liver disease and its complications. The progression of disease is characterised by ongoing inflammation and consequent fibrosis, although hepatic steatosis is increasingly being recognised as an important pathological feature of disease, rather than being simply an innocent bystander. However, the current gold standard method of quantifying and staging liver disease, histological analysis by liver biopsy, has several limitations and can have associated morbidity and even mortality. Therefore, there is a clear need for safe and noninvasive assessment modalities to determine hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis. This review covers key mechanisms and the importance of fibrosis and steatosis in the progression of liver disease. We address non-invasive imaging and blood biomarker assessments that can be used as an alternative to information gained on liver biopsy