Devising New Models for School Improvement in Developing Nations: Sierra Leone, a case study

Abstract Background and Introduction: This research describes the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of a (Continuous Professional Development & Learning) CPDL-based programme for schools in Sierra Leone, a low-income country with low educational standards. Aims: The research aimed to: (i) assess evidence of EducAid schools’ effectiveness; (ii) identify features of EducAid practice that government schools might adopt; (iii) design a CPDL programme for Sierra Leonean teachers; (iv) report the programme’s impact on students’ progress; (v) explore the possibility of programme delivery by local and largely untrained teachers; (vi) throw light on aspects of the programme that participants saw as strengths and weaknesses. Design and Methods: Within an innovative quasi-experimental design, an impact evaluation drew on data from five intervention and ten comparison schools, and a process evaluation drew on data on information from programme participants and the trainers. The impact evaluation was based on public exam results, literacy test scores and attendance data collected pre- and post-CPDL. Process data included information from lesson observations, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and a post-intervention evaluation workshop. Results: The impact evaluation showed larger improvements in student attendance and literacy test results in the intervention schools than in the comparison schools. The process evaluation identified challenges in embedding changes in pedagogic practice, and in data collection. However, it also identified consistent evidence of improvements in student behaviour. These were supported by head teachers and community groups and were seen as a necessary but not sufficient condition for the literacy score improvements. Discussion and Conclusions: Discussion focuses on how far the six aims were met and on how the research adds to understanding of CPDL and school improvement in a low-income country. The impossibility of randomisation in sample selection prevents any strong causal claims for the CPDL’s impact. The possibility of a larger scale roll-out is considered, subject to changes in the programme suggested by the process evaluation

Housing for All: Addressing the Housing Needs of Massachusetts\u27 North Shore Residents

The aim of this report is to support North Shore efforts to build a regional approach to housing. The report explores the housing needs of people who are caught in the squeeze between low incomes and high housing costs. The report has two goals: to provide information for understanding the need to expand below market rate housing; to illustrate that need by providing detailed documentation on the situation in Gloucester, Peabody, and Salem. The report is not intended to propose solutions, but to provide groundwork for solutions

Metabolic alterations in mothers living with HIV and their HIV-exposed, uninfected infants

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to the privacy of the participants.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL : TABLE S1: Demographic and clinical characteristics of infants exposed and unexposed to HIV at 6 and 10 weeks and 6 months; TABLE S2: Metabolomics data of pregnant women living with HIV and HIV-uninfected pregnant women at 28 weeks’ gestation; TABLE S3: Metabolomics data of infants exposed and unexposed to HIV at birth; TABLE S4: Metabolomics data of infants exposed and unexposed to HIV at 6/10 weeks; TABLE S5: Metabolomics data of infants exposed and unexposed to HIV at 6 months.HIV-exposed, uninfected (HEU) children present with suboptimal growth and a greater susceptibility to infection in early life when compared to HIV-unexposed, uninfected (HUU) children. The reasons for these findings are poorly understood. We used a metabolomics approach to investigate the metabolic differences between pregnant women living with HIV (PWLWH) and their HEU infants compared to the uninfected and unexposed controls. Untargeted metabolomic profiling was performed using 1H-NMR spectroscopy on maternal plasma at 28 weeks’ gestation and infant plasma at birth, 6/10 weeks, and 6 months. PWLWH were older but, apart from a larger 28 week mid-upper-arm circumference, anthropometrically similar to the controls. At all the time points, HEU infants had a significantly reduced growth compared to HUU infants. PWLWH had lower plasma 3-hydroxybutyric acid, acetoacetic acid, and acetic acid levels. In infants at birth, threonine and myo-inositol levels were lower in the HEU group while formic acid levels were higher. At 6/10 weeks, betaine and tyrosine levels were lower in the HEU group. Finally, at six months, 3-hydroxyisobutyric acid levels were lower while glycine levels were higher in the HEU infants. The NMR analysis has provided preliminary information indicating differences between HEU and HUU infants’ plasma metabolites involved in energy utilization, growth, and protection from infection.The umbrella study, of which this study forms a part, was largely funded by Collaborative Initiative for Paediatrics HIV Education and Research (CIPHER) funding from the International AIDS Society.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/viruseshj2024ImmunologyPaediatrics and Child HealthSDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein

Exile Vol. XXXI No. 2

Plenty of Space by Carol Contiguglia (cover) Dénouement by Jeff Masten 3 The Ballad of Old Bill Brown by Amy Becker 4-5 Elegy by Ann Townsend 6 Untitled by Karen Koch 7 Dénouement by Carol Mason 9-14 Untitled by N. R. B. III 15 A Lot in Common We Two, by David Zivan 17 The Sidewalk Taken, Kate Anthony 18 Upon Hearing Two Male Poets Read by Karen J. Hall 19 Leaves by Amy Becker 20 To Dad by Carrie Jordan 21 Attie Mae by Theresa Copeland 23-25 Oh, Henry by T. S. Elliott 26-38 Solitude; Normandy, France by Margie Boll 39 In Edgartown, Drunk, Stranded in the A.M. by Karen Kearney 41 Pink Feet by Catherine DuBois 42 Ensign in the Naval Corps of Engineers by Betsy Oster 43 Morning Haze by Stephanie Athey 44-45 Just Thought You\u27d Like to Know by Joan DeWitt 46-53 Art Class, A Study of Still-Lifes by Margie Boll 55 Contributor Notes 57 Editorial decision is shared equally among the Editorial Board members -cover page (credited here as editors ) PRINTING BY / PRINTING ARTS PRESS / MOUNT VERNON, OHIO -back cove

Route of drug administration in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A protocol for a randomised controlled trial (PARAMEDIC-3)

© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).AIMS: The PARAMEDIC-3 trial evaluates the clinical and cost-effectiveness of an intraosseous first strategy, compared with an intravenous first strategy, for drug administration in adults who have sustained an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. METHODS: PARAMEDIC-3 is a pragmatic, allocation concealed, open-label, multi-centre, superiority randomised controlled trial. It will recruit 15,000 patients across English and Welsh ambulance services. Adults who have sustained an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are individually randomised to an intraosseous access first strategy or intravenous access first strategy in a 1:1 ratio through an opaque, sealed envelope system. The randomised allocation determines the route used for the first two attempts at vascular access. Participants are initially enrolled under a deferred consent model.The primary clinical-effectiveness outcome is survival at 30-days. Secondary outcomes include return of spontaneous circulation, neurological functional outcome, and health-related quality of life. Participants are followed-up to six-months following cardiac arrest. The primary health economic outcome is incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year gained. CONCLUSION: The PARAMEDIC-3 trial will provide key information on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of drug route in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.Trial registration: ISRCTN14223494, registered 16/08/2021, prospectively registered.Peer reviewe

Characteristics of Sexual Abuse in Childhood and Adolescence Influence Sexual Risk Behavior in Adulthood

Childhood and adolescent sexual abuse has been associated with subsequent (adult) sexual risk behavior, but the effects of force and type of sexual abuse on sexual behavior outcomes have been less well-studied. The present study investigated the associations between sexual abuse characteristics and later sexual risk behavior, and explored whether gender of the child/adolescent moderated these relations. Patients attending an STD clinic completed a computerized survey that assessed history of sexual abuse as well as lifetime and current sexual behavior. Participants were considered sexually abused if they reported a sexual experience (1) before age 13 with someone 5 or more years older, (2) between the ages of 13 and 16 with someone 10 or more years older, or (3) before the age of 17 involving force or coercion. Participants who were sexually abused were further categorized based on two abuse characteristics, namely, use of penetration and force. Analyses included 1177 participants (n=534 women; n=643 men). Those who reported sexual abuse involving penetration and/or force reported more adult sexual risk behavior, including the number of lifetime partners and number of previous STD diagnoses, than those who were not sexually abused and those who were abused without force or penetration. There were no significant differences in sexual risk behavior between nonabused participants and those who reported sexual abuse without force and without penetration. Gender of the child/adolescent moderated the association between sexual abuse characteristics and adult sexual risk behavior; for men, sexual abuse with force and penetration was associated with the greatest number of episodes of sex trading, whereas for women, those who were abused with penetration, regardless of whether the abuse involved force, reported the most episodes of sex trading. These findings indicate that more severe sexual abuse is associated with riskier adult sexual behavior

Born in Bradford's Age of Wonder cohort: protocol for adolescent data collection.

BackgroundAdolescence and transition into adulthood are periods shaping life-long mental health, cardiometabolic risk, and inequalities. However, they are poorly studied and understood. By extending and expanding the Born in Bradford (BiB) cohort study through this period using innovative, co-produced approaches to collect and analyse data, we aim to understand better the interplay of factors that influence health and wellbeing, and inform/evaluate interventions to improve them and reduce inequalities.ProtocolBiB Age of Wonder (AoW) is a large, whole city cohort that will capture the contemporary lived experience amongst multi-ethnic adolescents progressing into young adulthood. We will collect repeated data from existing BiB participants and their peers (N~30,000 adolescents). The protocol for the first phase of the quantitative methods, involving survey measurements and health assessments in mainstream secondary schools is described here. We describe the co-production behind these methods, and lessons learned from the first year of data collection

Born in Bradford’s Age of Wonder cohort : protocol for adolescent data collection

Background Adolescence and transition into adulthood are periods shaping life-long mental health, cardiometabolic risk, and inequalities. However, they are poorly studied and understood. By extending and expanding the Born in Bradford (BiB) cohort study through this period using innovative, co-produced approaches to collect and analyse data, we aim to understand better the interplay of factors that influence health and wellbeing, and inform/evaluate interventions to improve them and reduce inequalities. Protocol BiB Age of Wonder (AoW) is a large, whole city cohort that will capture the contemporary lived experience amongst multi-ethnic adolescents progressing into young adulthood. We will collect repeated data from existing BiB participants and their peers (N~30,000 adolescents). The protocol for the first phase of the quantitative methods, involving survey measurements and health assessments in mainstream secondary schools is described here. We describe the co-production behind these methods, and lessons learned from the first year of data collection