Children’s right to participate in early childhood care and education settings and relative innovatory supportive digital tools for ECCE professionals’ development

Young children’s participation is key to developing a culture of human rights, democracy, and rule of law and according to Council of Europe (2017) and United Nations (2005). In these terms, children’s right to participate is described as a key aspect in the framework of educational quality, and the positive relationship between children’s right to participate and early childhood care and education (ECCE) quality is already documented. Although this concept is not new to ECCE professionals, its application seems to remain a challenge within everyday activities. It is thus important for ECCE professionals to reflect on this right and on the practices towards its promotion, in order to be able to supply high quality education. The paper presents the innovatory attempts regarding the digital tools developed within the PARTICIPA Erasmus+ project (Professional development tools supporting participation rights in early childhood education) aiming to involve three target group -directors, teachers and teachers’ assistants- working in all types of early childhood care and education settings, so that have a digital space to reflect about children’s right to participate and its implementation. More specifically, the paper presents (a) a training program targeting the ECCE settings’ professionals provided through a massive open online course (MOOC) in 5 languages and disseminated in an online learning platform, focusing on the theoretical and practical aspects of children’s right to participate (i.e., state of the art, relevant pedagogical practices), (b) toolkits (i.e., validated self-assessment questionnaires) for ECCE directors and teachers and teacher assistants supported by discrete qualitative studies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Schlafkrankheit bei deutschen Tropenreisenden

Zwei deutsche Tropenreisende erkrankten nach einer zweitägigen Safari im Akagera-Nationalpark in Ruanda an ostafrikanischer Trypanosomiasis (Schlafkrankheit). Leitsymptome waren Fieber, Lymphadenopathie und eine typische Primärläsion (Trypanosomenschanker). Die Diagnose konnte durch den Nachweis von Trypanosomen im peripheren Blut gesichert werden. Das Zentralnervensystem war in beiden Fällen nicht beteiligt. Unter dem Einfluß einer Therapie mit Suramin, 1 g pro Woche intravenös über 6 Wochen, bildeten sich die Symptome und die Parasitämie rasch zurück. Nach der Zahl der seit 1970 berichteten Fälle ergibt sich für deutsche Tropenreisende ein Infektionsrisiko von 0,3 pro 100 000. Aufgrund der teilweise erheblichen Wiederzunahme der Schlafkrankheit in einigen afrikanischen Ländern kann mit einer Zunahme des Infektionsrisikos auch für Touristen gerechnet werden

Four years of natural history of HIV-1 infection in African women : a prospective cohort study in Kigali (Rwanda), 1988-1993

Clinical features and mortality due to human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infection in women are described as part of a prospective 4-year cohort study on perinatal transmission of HIV in Kigali, Rwanda. Two hundred fifteen HIV-positive (HIV+) and 216 HIV-negative (HIV-) pregnant women were enrolled at delivery between November 1988 and June 1989. Clinical information collected during systematic quarterly examinations was compared. HIV antibody tests were performed at delivery and CD4/CD8 lymphocyte counts at 15 days' postpartum. HIV- women who seroconverted during the follow-up period were excluded from the analysis of the comparison group starting at the date of seroconversion. At enrollment, all HIV+ women were asymptomatic for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Incidence of tuberculosis was 2.9 per 100 women-years (WY) after 4 years of follow-up in HIV+ women versus 0.2 per 100 WY among HIV- women (relative risk. 18.2% ; 95% confidence interval 2.4-137.0). Among HIV+ women, the incidence of AIDS was 3.5 per 100 WY. The mortality rate was 4.4 per 100 WY among HIV+ women versus 0.5 per 100 WY among HIV- women. Clinical AIDS was present in only half of the fatalities. Tuberculosis was a major cause of morbidity and mortality in these HIV+ African women. An early diagnosis and an appropriate treatment or prevention of tuberculosis should improve the quality of life of HIV-infected patients in Africa. (Résumé d'auteur

Fluid-structure interaction simulation of prosthetic aortic valves : comparison between immersed boundary and arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian techniques for the mesh representation

In recent years the role of FSI (fluid-structure interaction) simulations in the analysis of the fluid-mechanics of heart valves is becoming more and more important, being able to capture the interaction between the blood and both the surrounding biological tissues and the valve itself. When setting up an FSI simulation, several choices have to be made to select the most suitable approach for the case of interest: in particular, to simulate flexible leaflet cardiac valves, the type of discretization of the fluid domain is crucial, which can be described with an ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian) or an Eulerian formulation. The majority of the reported 3D heart valve FSI simulations are performed with the Eulerian formulation, allowing for large deformations of the domains without compromising the quality of the fluid grid. Nevertheless, it is known that the ALE-FSI approach guarantees more accurate results at the interface between the solid and the fluid. The goal of this paper is to describe the same aortic valve model in the two cases, comparing the performances of an ALE-based FSI solution and an Eulerian-based FSI approach. After a first simplified 2D case, the aortic geometry was considered in a full 3D set-up. The model was kept as similar as possible in the two settings, to better compare the simulations' outcomes. Although for the 2D case the differences were unsubstantial, in our experience the performance of a full 3D ALE-FSI simulation was significantly limited by the technical problems and requirements inherent to the ALE formulation, mainly related to the mesh motion and deformation of the fluid domain. As a secondary outcome of this work, it is important to point out that the choice of the solver also influenced the reliability of the final results

Children’s right to participate: The Lundy model applied to early childhood education and care

Children have the right to express their views in all matters affecting them, and to have them considered and given due weight. Children’s participation is most meaningful when rooted in children’s everyday lives, and its promotion should be encouraged from the youngest ages, especially in early childhood education and care (ecec). In this paper we apply the Lundy model of participation, widely used in policy, practice and professional development initiatives, to the ecec context. Based on examples provided by ecec professionals from Belgium, Greece, Poland, and Portugal, we illustrate the implementation of the elements of space, voice, audience and influence, proposed by the Lundy model. We also discuss the interrelations among these elements and the need for organisational and contextual support to enhance children’s participation. This paper adds to existing literature, highlighting theoretical and practical issues associated with the promotion of children’s right to participate in ecec.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Disabled-2 (Dab2) inhibits Wnt/β-catenin signalling by binding LRP6 and promoting its internalization through clathrin

Wnt signalling requires caveolin-dependent endocytic uptake of the Fz/LRP6 receptor complex. The tumour suppressor Disabled-2 inhibits Wnt signalling by sequestering CK2-phosphorylated LRP6 into an alternative clathrin-dependent endocytic pathway

Live Imaging of Xwnt5A-ROR2 Complexes

Secreted molecules of the Wnt family regulate key decisions in embryogenesis and adult tissue homeostasis by activating a complex network of Wnt signaling pathways. Although the different branches of Wnt signaling have been studied for more than 25 years, fluorophore tagged constructs for live cell imaging of Wnt molecules activating the Wnt/β-catenin pathway have become available only recently. We have generated a fluorophore tagged Wnt construct of the Xenopus Wnt5a protein (Xwnt5A) with the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), Xwnt5A-EGFP. This construct activates non-canonical Wnt pathways in an endocytosis dependent manner and is capable of compensating for the loss of endogenous Xwnt5A in Xenopus embryos. Strikingly, non-canonical Wnt pathway activation was restricted to short-range signaling while an inhibitory effect was observed in transwell cell cultures taken as long-range signaling model sytem. We used our Xwnt5A-EGFP construct to analyze in vivo binding of Wnt5A to its co-receptor ROR2 on the microscopic and on the molecular level. On the microscopic level, Xwnt5A-EGFP clusters in the membrane and recruits ROR2-mCherry to these clusters. Applying dual-colour dual-focus line-scanning fluorescence correlation spectroscopy on dorsal marginal zone explants, we identified membrane tethered Xwnt5A-EGFP molecules binding to ROR2-mCherry molecules. Our data favour a model, in which membrane-tethered Wnt-5A recruits ROR2 to form large ligand/receptor clusters and signals in an endocytosis-dependent manner

Rab-GTPase binding effector protein 2 (RABEP2) is a primed substrate for Glycogen Synthase kinase-3 (GSK3)

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) regulates many physiological processes through phosphorylation of a diverse array of substrates. Inhibitors of GSK3 have been generated as potential therapies in several diseases, however the vital role GSK3 plays in cell biology makes the clinical use of GSK3 inhibitors potentially problematic. A clearer understanding of true physiological and pathophysiological substrates of GSK3 should provide opportunities for more selective, disease specific, manipulation of GSK3. To identify kinetically favourable substrates we performed a GSK3 substrate screen in heart tissue. Rab-GTPase binding effector protein 2 (RABEP2) was identified as a novel GSK3 substrate and GSK3 phosphorylation of RABEP2 at Ser200 was enhanced by prior phosphorylation at Ser204, fitting the known consensus sequence for GSK3 substrates. Both residues are phosphorylated in cells while only Ser200 phosphorylation is reduced following inhibition of GSK3. RABEP2 function was originally identified as a Rab5 binding protein. We did not observe co-localisation of RABEP2 and Rab5 in cells, while ectopic expression of RABEP2 had no effect on endosomal recycling. The work presented identifies RABEP2 as a novel primed substrate of GSK3, and thus a potential biomarker for GSK3 activity, but understanding how phosphorylation regulates RABEP2 function requires more information on physiological roles of RABEP2