Reconsidering Education for All at a time of Change: Influence of Economic Factors on access to Secondary Education in Narok County, Kenya

This paper sought to determine economic factors that influence access to secondary educational opportunities in Narok County, Kenya and to suggest strategies to help raise the transition rates of learners from primary to secondary schools. The study employed descriptive survey research design involving both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Study participants comprised head teachers, teachers and students in both primary and secondary schools. Stratified sampling technique was used to select twenty-four (24) primary school head teachers, forty-eight (48) primary school teachers and eight (8) secondary school principals. A total of 68 class eight pupils and 44 form one students were selected using simple random sampling from the sampled schools. Data were collected using questionnaires and an interview schedule. Pilot testing was done with questionnaires to test reliability and validity. To obtain the reliability the test-retest method was employed. Pearson Product Moment was employed to compute the correlation coefficient. A correlation co-efficient of 0.77 was obtained. Qualitative data were analysed inductively through content analysis while SPSS was used to analyse quantitative data. Results were presented in form of tables, figures, frequencies and percentages. It was established that household poverty and opportunity costs of education have influences on completion rates and lead to dropouts from basic schooling. The study recommends the need for the government and private sector employing a long term strategy in expanding secondary education in Kenya. This could include poverty mitigation and reduction in cost of secondary schooling and improvement of basic infrastructure, improvement of the quality of education in the country in order to reduce the opportunity costs and also through provision of more subsidies to improve the level of enrollment in basic education

Portraying Mahalakshmi as an Awe-inspiring Mistress: An Exploration of M. Kumaran S/o Mahalakshmi

Maria Shriver, an American journalist and activist has expressed that having kids - the responsibility of rearing good, kind, ethical, responsible human beings - is the biggest job anyone can embark on, which is a widely accepted truth, notwithstanding to the boundaries of time, culture and nativity. The research paper aims at exploring the episodes of the movie, M.Kumaran S/o Mahalakshmi that assist in substantiating the proclamation of Maria Shriver. The research paper attempts to scrutinize and reiterate the determination of the single-handed Mahalakshmi who plays a successful and inspiring role in all her capacities. Mahalakshmi is a prominent and inspiring woman character of the 2004 Tamil family-drama film, M.Kumaran S/o Mahalakshmi that was directed by M. Raja. Being a woman character, she has influenced millions of souls of different backgrounds remarkably. Having deserted by her lovely husband Eshwar, Mahalakshmi moves to a strange city with her sole boy child wherein she strives to become a college Lecturer, thereby constructing her and her son, Kumaran’s life

Abindu Sacred Site: Socio-Cultural Capital for Ecotourism Promotion and Community Empowerment in Kisumu County, Kenya

Abstrac

Survival of Infants Born to HIV-Positive Mothers, by Feeding Modality, in Rakai, Uganda

Data comparing survival of formula-fed to breast-fed infants in programmatic settings are limited. We compared mortality and HIV-free of breast and formula-fed infants born to HIV-positive mothers in a program in rural, Rakai District Uganda.One hundred eighty two infants born to HIV-positive mothers were followed at one, six and twelve months postpartum. Mothers were given infant-feeding counseling and allowed to make informed choices as to whether to formula-feed or breast-feed. Eligible mothers and infants received antiretroviral therapy (ART) if indicated. Mothers and their newborns received prophylaxis for prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (pMTCT) if they were not receiving ART. Infant HIV infection was detected by PCR (Roche Amplicor 1.5) during the follow-up visits. Kaplan Meier time-to-event methods were used to compare mortality and HIV-free survival. The adjusted hazard ratio (Adjusted HR) of infant HIV-free survival was estimated by Cox regression. Seventy-five infants (41%) were formula-fed while 107 (59%) were breast-fed. Exclusive breast-feeding was practiced by only 25% of breast-feeding women at one month postpartum. The cumulative 12-month probability of infant mortality was 18% (95% CI = 11%–29%) among the formula-fed compared to 3% (95% CI = 1%–9%) among the breast-fed infants (unadjusted hazard ratio (HR)  = 6.1(95% CI = 1.7–21.4, P-value<0.01). There were no statistically significant differentials in HIV-free survival by feeding choice (86% in the formula-fed compared to 96% in breast-fed group (Adjusted RH = 2.8[95%CI = 0.67–11.7, P-value = 0.16]Formula-feeding was associated with a higher risk of infant mortality than breastfeeding in this rural population. Our findings suggest that formula-feeding should be discouraged in similar African settings

Effect of trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole on the risk of malaria in HIV-infected Ugandan children living in an area of widespread antifolate resistance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Daily trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TS) protects against malaria, but efficacy may be diminished as anti-folate resistance increases. This study assessed the incidence of falciparum malaria and the prevalence of resistance-conferring <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>mutations in HIV-infected children receiving daily TS and HIV-uninfected children not taking TS.</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>Subjects were 292 HIV-infected and 517 uninfected children from two cohort studies in Kampala, Uganda observed from August 2006 to December 2008. Daily TS was given to HIV-infected, but not HIV-uninfected children and all participants were provided an insecticide-treated bed net. Standardized protocols were used to measure the incidence of malaria and identify markers of antifolate resistance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Sixty-five episodes of falciparum malaria occurred in HIV-infected and 491 episodes in uninfected children during the observation period. TS was associated with a protective efficacy of 80% (0.10 vs. 0.45 episodes per person year, p < 0.001), and efficacy did not vary over three consecutive 9.5 month periods (81%, 74%, 80% respectively, p = 0.506). The prevalences of <it>dhfr </it>51I, 108N, and 59R and <it>dhps </it>437G and 540E mutations were each over 90% among parasites infecting both HIV-infected and uninfected children. Prevalence of the <it>dhfr </it>164L mutation, which is associated with high-level resistance, was significantly higher in parasites from HIV-infected compared to uninfected children (8% vs. 1%, p = 0.001). Sequencing of the <it>dhfr </it>and <it>dhps </it>genes identified only one additional polymorphism, <it>dhps </it>581G, in 2 of 30 samples from HIV-infected and 0 of 54 samples from uninfected children.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Despite high prevalence of known anti-folate resistance-mediating mutations, TS prophylaxis was highly effective against malaria, but was associated with presence of <it>dhfr </it>164L mutation.</p

Candidate high myopia loci on chromosomes 18p and 12q do not play a major role in susceptibility to common myopia

BACKGROUND: To determine whether previously reported loci predisposing to nonsyndromic high myopia show linkage to common myopia in pedigrees from two ethnic groups: Ashkenazi Jewish and Amish. We hypothesized that these high myopia loci might exhibit allelic heterogeneity and be responsible for moderate /mild or common myopia. METHODS: Cycloplegic and manifest refraction were performed on 38 Jewish and 40 Amish families. Individuals with at least -1.00 D in each meridian of both eyes were classified as myopic. Genomic DNA was genotyped with 12 markers on chromosomes 12q21-23 and 18p11.3. Parametric and nonparametric linkage analyses were conducted to determine whether susceptibility alleles at these loci are important in families with less severe, clinical forms of myopia. RESULTS: There was no strong evidence of linkage of common myopia to these candidate regions: all two-point and multipoint heterogeneity LOD scores were < 1.0 and non-parametric linkage p-values were > 0.01. However, one Amish family showed slight evidence of linkage (LOD>1.0) on 12q; another 3 Amish families each gave LOD >1.0 on 18p; and 3 Jewish families each gave LOD >1.0 on 12q. CONCLUSIONS: Significant evidence of linkage (LOD> 3) of myopia was not found on chromosome 18p or 12q loci in these families. These results suggest that these loci do not play a major role in the causation of common myopia in our families studied

Immunity to HIV-1 Is Influenced by Continued Natural Exposure to Exogenous Virus

Unprotected sexual intercourse between individuals who are both infected with HIV-1 can lead to exposure to their partner's virus, and potentially to super-infection. However, the immunological consequences of continued exposure to HIV-1 by individuals already infected, has to our knowledge never been reported. We measured T cell responses in 49 HIV-1 infected individuals who were on antiretroviral therapy with suppressed viral loads. All the individuals were in a long-term sexual partnership with another HIV-1 infected individual, who was either also on HAART and suppressing their viral loads, or viremic (>9000 copies/ml). T cell responses to HIV-1 epitopes were measured directly ex-vivo by the IFN-γ enzyme linked immuno-spot assay and by cytokine flow cytometry. Sexual exposure data was generated from questionnaires given to both individuals within each partnership. Individuals who continued to have regular sexual contact with a HIV-1 infected viremic partner had significantly higher frequencies of HIV-1-specific T cell responses, compared to individuals with aviremic partners. Strikingly, the magnitude of the HIV-1-specific T cell response correlated strongly with the level and route of exposure. Responses consisted of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets. Longitudinally, decreases in exposure were mirrored by a lower T cell response. However, no evidence for systemic super-infection was found in any of the individuals. Continued sexual exposure to exogenous HIV-1 was associated with increased HIV-1-specific T cell responses, in the absence of systemic super-infection, and correlated with the level and type of exposure

Notch Ankyrin Repeat Domain Variation Influences Leukemogenesis and Myc Transactivation

, cell-based and structural analyses to compare the abilities of activated Notch1-4 to support T cell development, induce T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (T-ALL), and maintain T-ALL cell growth and survival., a direct Notch target that has an important role in Notch-associated T-ALL.We conclude that the leukemogenic potentials of Notch receptors vary, and that this functional difference stems in part from divergence among the highly conserved ankyrin repeats, which influence the transactivation of specific target genes involved in leukemogenesis

Non-Overlapping Functions for Pyk2 and FAK in Osteoblasts during Fluid Shear Stress-Induced Mechanotransduction

Mechanotransduction, the process by which cells convert external mechanical stimuli such as fluid shear stress (FSS) into biochemical changes, plays a critical role in maintenance of the skeleton. We have proposed that mechanical stimulation by FSS across the surfaces of bone cells results in formation of unique signaling complexes called mechanosomes that are launched from sites of adhesion with the extracellular matrix and with other bone cells [1]. Deformation of adhesion complexes at the cell membrane ultimately results in alteration of target gene expression. Recently, we reported that focal adhesion kinase (FAK) functions as a part of a mechanosome complex that is required for FSS-induced mechanotransduction in bone cells. This study extends this work to examine the role of a second member of the FAK family of non-receptor protein tyrosine kinases, proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2), and determine its role during osteoblast mechanotransduction. We use osteoblasts harvested from mice as our model system in this study and compared the contributions of Pyk2 and FAK during FSS induced mechanotransduction in osteoblasts. We exposed Pyk2+/+ and Pyk2−/− primary calvarial osteoblasts to short period of oscillatory fluid flow and analyzed downstream activation of ERK1/2, and expression of c-fos, cyclooxygenase-2 and osteopontin. Unlike FAK, Pyk2 was not required for fluid flow-induced mechanotransduction as there was no significant difference in the response of Pyk2+/+ and Pyk2−/− osteoblasts to short periods of fluid flow (FF). In contrast, and as predicted, FAK−/− osteoblasts were unable to respond to FF. These data indicate that FAK and Pyk2 have distinct, non-redundant functions in launching mechanical signals during osteoblast mechanotransduction. Additionally, we compared two methods of generating FF in both cell types, oscillatory pump method and another orbital platform method. We determined that both methods of generating FF induced similar responses in both primary calvarial osteoblasts and immortalized calvarial osteoblasts