Current Status Of Malaria Vaccinology Essays (2087 words) - Malaria

Current Status of Malaria Vaccinology annon In order to assess the current status of malaria vaccinology one must first take an overview of the whole of the whole disease. One must understand the disease and its enormity on a global basis. Malaria is a protozoan disease of which over 150 million cases are reported per annum. In tropical Africa alone more than 1 million children under the age of fourteen die each year from Malaria. From these figures it is easy to see that eradication of this disease is of the utmost importance. The disease is caused by one of four species of Plasmodium These four are P. falciparium, P .malariae, P .vivax and P .ovale. Malaria does not only effect humans, but can also infect a variety of hosts ranging from reptiles to monkeys. It is therefore necessary to look at all the aspects in order to assess the possibility of a vaccine. The disease has a long and complex life cycle which creates problems for immunologists. The vector for Malaria is the Anophels Mosquito in which the life cycle of Malaria both begins and ends. The parasitic protozoan enters the bloodstream via the bite of an infected female mosquito. During her feeding she transmits a small amount of anticoagulant and haploid sporozoites along with saliva. The sporozoites head directly for the hepatic cells of the liver where they multiply by asexual fission to produce merozoites. These merozoites can now travel one of two paths. They can go to infect more hepatic liver cells or they can attach to and penetrate erytherocytes. When inside the erythrocytes the plasmodium enlarges into uninucleated cells called trophozites The nucleus of this newly formed cell then divides asexually to produce a schizont, which has 6-24 nuclei. Now the multinucleated schizont then divides to produce mononucleated merozoites . Eventually the erythrocytes reaches lysis and as result the merozoites enter the bloodstream and infect more erythrocytes. This cycle repeats itself every 48-72 hours (depending on the species of plasmodium involved in the original infection) The sudden release of merozoites toxins and erythrocytes debris is what causes the fever and chills associated with Malaria. Of course the disease must be able to transmit itself for survival. This is done at the erythrocytic stage of the life cycle. Occasionally merozoites differentiate into macrogametocytes and microgametocytes. This process does not cause lysis and there fore the erythrocyte remains stable and when the infected host is bitten by a mosquito the gametocytes can enter its digestive system where they mature in to sporozoites, thus the life cycle of the plasmodium is begun again waiting to infect its next host. At present people infected with Malaria are treated with drugs such as Chloroquine, Amodiaquine or Mefloquine. These drugs are effective at eradicating the exoethrocytic stages but resistance to them is becoming increasing common. Therefore a vaccine looks like the only viable option. The wiping out of the vector i.e. Anophels mosquito would also prove as an effective way of stopping disease transmission but the mosquito are also becoming resistant to insecticides and so again we must look to a vaccine as a solution Having read certain attempts at creating a malaria vaccine several points become clear. The first is that is the theory of Malaria vaccinology a viable concept? I found the answer to this in an article published in Nature from July 1994 by Christopher Dye and Geoffrey Targett. They used the MMR (Measles Mumps and Rubella) vaccine as an example to which they could compare a possible Malaria vaccine Their article said that simple epidemiological theory states that the critical fraction (p) of all people to be immunised with a combined vaccine (MMR) to ensure eradication of all three pathogens is determined by the infection that spreads most quickly through the population; that is by the age of one with the largest basic case reproduction number Ro. In case the of MMR this is measles with Ro of around 15 which implies that p 1-1/Ro ? 0.93 Gupta et al points out that if a population of malaria parasite consists of a collection of pathogens or strains that have the same properties as common childhood viruses, the vaccine coverage would be determined by the strain with the largest Ro rather than the Ro of the whole parasite population. While estimates of the latter have been as high as 100, the former could be much lower. The above shows us that if a vaccine can be made against the strain with the highest Ro it could provide immunity to all malaria plasmodium Another problem faced by immunologists is the difficulty in

10 Tips to Improve Kindergarten Reading Comprehension

10 Tips to Improve Kindergarten Reading Comprehension Learning to read is an exciting milestone for kindergarteners. Early reading skills include letter recognition, phonemic awareness, decoding, blending, and sight word recognition. Go beyond worksheets to improve kindergarten reading comprehension and skill through hands-on learning activities, games, and targeted techniques. Key Takeaways Build a foundation for comprehension by providing explicit phonics instruction and reinforcing new knowledge through interactive games.Select books with repetitive text that focus on topics your child enjoys, and read each one multiple times. Repetition encourages comprehension.While you read, help your child make connections by asking questions about the story and encouraging them to visualize it. Start with a Strong Foundation Overall reading success, including strong comprehension skills, begins with phonemic awareness. More than merely reciting the alphabet, kindergartners need to learn the sounds that each  letter makes.  Phonemic awareness also includes: blending individual soundsisolating beginning and ending sounds and recognizing words that start or end with the same soundssegmenting words into individual sounds Children need explicit phonics instruction. This instruction  builds on phonemic awareness to teach the relationship between letters or groups of letters and sounds. The most effective phonics instruction follows a specific sequence beginning with vowel and consonant sounds and building to two and three letter blends, double consonant ends, plural words, and diagraphs (letter blends such as ch, sh, bl, and th). Finally, kindergarten students should work on recognizing high-frequency words commonly known as sight words. Fry words and  Dolch sight words are two such word lists.   Play Kindergarten Reading Games Get young children involved in hands-on activities that improve their phonemic awareness and reading comprehension skills. Roll Word Families Start with two blank dice. On one, write word-beginning consonant sounds (example: b, s, t, m, p, r). On the second, write word-ending vowel-consonant sounds (example: at, op, an, in, ap, et). You should be able to combine the beginning and ending sounds to create consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. To play, invite your child to roll the dice and read the resulting word. Some of the combinations will be nonsense words, but that’s okay. Nonsense words still provide practice blending sounds. If desired, ask students to identify which words are real and which are nonsense. I Spy Send  children on a CVC or sight word scavenger hunt through classroom books  with a simple I Spy game. Ask them to search the books for  CVC  or sight  words, then report back on the words they find. Act Out Passages Encourage students to act out a scene from a book they are reading. This fun, simple activity adds meaning to the words on the page, and helps children focus on and visualize those meanings. Bingo Use a preprinted sight word bingo card or fill a blank template with sight words or CVC words. Create a few different card options and give one to each student, along with marker chips. Call out the words one at a time. As students locate each word on their card, they will cover it with a marker until they have five in a row. You can use preprinted bingo cards or try other printable sight word games. Reading Recommendations for Kindergarten When looking for books that kindergarten students can read independently (or with a little help), it’s important to keep a few facts in mind. First, children should recognize and be able to read 90% of the words in a â€Å"just right† book. It helps to remember the 5-finger rule. If a student makes five errors reading a page from a book, it’s too hard. One error is too easy. Four errors might mean the book is okay to try with some help. The sweet spot for a just right book is only two or three errors per page. Second, remember that it’s okay for children to read the same book multiple times. It may seem as if this isn’t helpful for reading comprehension because they are memorizing the text. However,  becoming  comfortable  and familiar with text improves reading fluency, vocabulary, and word recognition.   Similarly, reading books with repetitive text, such as The Foot Book or Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss, improves reading comprehension. Include books with familiar sight words such as Big Brown Bear or Big Pig, Little Pig, both by David McPhail.   Finally, help children select books on topics that interest them. Keep in mind that some children prefer fiction books while others thrive on non-fiction. Try non-fiction books written for early readers such as Baby Pandas by Bethany Olson, Big Shark, Little Shark by Anna Membrino, or On a Farm by Alexa Andrews. Kindergarten Reading Comprehension Assessment One of the easiest ways to assess reading comprehension in kindergarten students is the  Informal Reading Inventory (IRI), also known as a Qualitative Reading Inventory. The IRI  allows  instructors to individually assess a student’s fluency, word recognition,  vocabulary,  comprehension, and oral reading accuracy. Kindergarten students should be assessed in the middle and at the end of the school year. Children are usually asked to read a passage aloud.  Reading fluency rate is determined by how many correct words  a student reads in one minute. Oral reading accuracy can help an instructor determine a student’s reading level and ability to decode words. Comprehension can be checked by asking questions about the passage or asking the student to summarize what he read. Vocabulary is assessed through open-ended questions about words in the passage. Model Good Reading Habits It is important for children to see that  their parents and teachers  value reading. Teachers can help by setting aside 15 to 20 minutes for silent reading each day. During this time, students and their teacher choose books to read silently. Parents can help by making sure that children see them reading at home. Teachers and parents should read aloud to students regularly so that children can hear the role that reading rate and voice inflection play in fluency. Choose books that are above the level that children could read on their own to expose them to new vocabulary. Parents should make bedtime stories part of their nightly routine. Ask Questions Improve kindergarten students’ reading comprehension by asking questions. Before reading, look at the book’s title and illustrations and ask students to make predictions about what will happen. During the story, ask questions about what is going on, what students think will happen next, or what they would do if they were the main character. After the story,  ask questions about what happened, how the story made the children feel, or why they think the book ended the way it did. Help Kindergartners Make Connections Helping students make connections is another effective technique for improving comprehension. Give students a foundation for what they’re reading. Talk or watch a video about unfamiliar experiences before reading about them. Help children  connect  stories to their own experiences. When reading a book about a boy getting a new puppy, for example, talk to students about who has a pet. Ask where they got their pet and how they chose it. Teach Comprehension Strategies Teach children what to do when they don’t understand what they’re reading. Instruct students to: Re-read the passageLook at  the pictures for cluesThink about what happened before or read what happens next If those tips don’t help, students may be reading a book that is too difficult. Don’t forget the 5-finger rule! Use Anchor Charts Anchor charts are resources to help students remember the key concepts about what they’ve learned. Anchor charts for reading comprehension might include reminders about decoding techniques, making connections, or visualizing the story. Build Vocabulary Increasing a student’s vocabulary in an excellent way to improve their reading comprehension. Give students confidence in their budding reading skills by defining  unfamiliar words ahead of time so that they don’t lose the meaning of the story. Teach them to  infer the meaning of a new word from the context of the story. For example, if a student reads, â€Å"The tiny ant goes in the little hole,† he may be unfamiliar with the word tiny but recognize little from his sight word list. Teach kids to ask themselves questions such as, â€Å"What could go through a little hole? Would it be something small or something big?† By reading the word in context, kids can learn to infer that tiny must mean small or little. Encourage Visualization Teach children to create mental images, often called brain movies or mind movies, when they are reading. Ask them to draw a picture of what is going on or what the character is thinking or feeling. Instruct them to use their  five senses to picture the action of the story in their mind. Envisioning the action of a story is a fun way to improve students’ reading comprehension.

6. To what extent were womens lives transformed by obtaining the vote Assignment

6. To what extent were womens lives transformed by obtaining the vote in 1918 and 1928 - Assignment Example They had no right for electoral positions in the parliament, and they were also not permitted to vote. It was presumed that women were not required to vote since their husbands took that responsibility on their behalf. Women’s responsibility was taking care of the home and childbearing. During industrial revolution, women became full- time employees which implicate that they had no opportunities to meet in groups to discuss social and political issues. In 1866, organized campaigns for women suffrage started to appear and from 1888, women were allowed to vote in local council elections. John Stuart proposed an amendment that women should be permitted to vote just as men but unfortunately rejected. Voting for women was always considered as an improvement in women’s rights. Many women viewed a vote as an outstanding achievement as that would give them a voice in the laws that were affecting their lives (Lambert, 2015, p.22). For years, women have struggled to achieve equal representation and rights in official activities. The quest for equality accelerated in the 19th century. This is the period when men became actively involved in wars as there was tension all over the world. While their men were away, women served the nation, and they did men’s work in various ways. In 1918, the passed a law that the women should be given a right to vote. This was as a result of the ability they had shown during the period in which their men were away. More women were willing to volunteer to work in ammunitions manufacturing factories, others were willing to take even significant risks being nurses for the wounded soldiers, and others became secretaries and assistants in offices that were used to control war troops among other important roles. Almost every individual who supported the motion of women to obtain voting right plainly said that they deserved it due to their courageous conduct during the period of war. Supporters of