A cross-sectional survey of community health workers and their roles in Indiana.

Background: In the US, there is a lack of information about the community health worker (CHW) workforce, which is critical to inform workforce policy, development, and training initiatives. In this manuscript, we report the results of a cross-sectional workforce survey of CHWs in Indiana.

Methods: We conducted a statewide electronic survey of CHWs in Indiana.

Risks and benefits of engaging youth living with HIV in research: perspectives from Kenyan Youth, caregivers, and subject matter experts.

Background: Involving children and adolescents (youth) living with HIV (YLWH) in research is critical for developing appropriate HIV care services and interventions. However, this vulnerable population may not adequately weigh risks against benefits when participating in research, forming an ethical concern, yet little is known about how YLWH perceive these risks and benefits. To inform research-related policies and procedures, we sought perspectives of Kenyan YLWH, their caregivers and subject matter experts (SMEs) on risks and benefits of participation in research in a setting with a high burden of youth HIV infection.

Single-Cell and Spatial Transcriptomic Analysis of Maize Embryo Development.

Plant embryogenesis encompasses the biological processes wherein the zygote (fertilized egg) undergoes cell division, cell expansion, and cell differentiation to develop histological tissue layers, meristems, and various organs comprising the primordial body plan of the organism. Studies of embryogenesis in the agronomically important maize crop advance our understanding of the fundamental mechanism of plant development, which, upon translation, may advance agronomic improvement, optimization of conditions for somatic embryogenesis, and plant synthetic biology. Maize embryo development is coordinated temporally and spatially and is regulated by interactive genetic networks.

Single-Cell and Spatial Transcriptomic Analysis of Maize Embryo Development: a Sample Preparation Protocol.

Maize is an important crop that contributes to the modern economy in various ways, including use for human consumption, as animal feed, and in industrial products. Research on maize is crucial for understanding plant development, which in turn provides valuable insight into improvement of maize crops to meet the food demands of a growing population. Maize embryogenesis, which is the primordial stage of the corn life cycle, determines the fundamental body plan and developmental programs that organize the tissue patterning and subsequent growth and reproduction of the corn plant.

Multiplexed transcriptomic analyzes of the plant embryonic hourglass.

Zoologists have adduced morphological convergence among embryonic stages of closely related taxa, which has been called the phylotypic stage of embryogenesis. Transcriptomic analyzes reveal an hourglass pattern of gene expression during plant and animal embryogenesis, characterized by the accumulation of evolutionarily older and conserved transcripts during mid-embryogenesis, whereas younger less-conserved transcripts predominate at earlier and later embryonic stages. In contrast, comparisons of embryonic gene expression among different animal phyla describe an inverse hourglass pattern, where expression is correlated during early and late stages but not during mid-embryo development.

Stakeholder Perspectives on Research Consent and Reconsent for Procedures Involving Biological Samples and Biobanking of Children and Adolescents Living With HIV in Kenya.

Objective: To explore the perspectives of stakeholders on consenting and reconsenting children and adolescents living with HIV (CALWH) to participate in research involving biological sampling and biobanking. Stakeholders included CALWH, their caregivers, subject matter experts (SMEs) such as Institutional Review Board (IRB) members, Community Advisory Board (CAB) members, Healthcare Providers, researchers, and community leaders.

Study Design: This qualitative study was conducted at the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) in Kenya.

Integrative multi-omic analysis identifies genes associated with cuticular wax biogenesis in adult maize leaves.

Studying the genetic basis of leaf wax composition and its correlation with leaf cuticular conductance (gc) is crucial for improving crop productivity. The leaf cuticle, which comprises a cutin matrix and various waxes, functions as an extracellular hydrophobic layer, protecting against water loss upon stomatal closure. To address the limited understanding of genes associated with the natural variation of adult leaf cuticular waxes and their connection to gc, we conducted statistical genetic analyses using leaf transcriptomic, metabolomic, and physiological data sets collected from a maize (Zea mays L.

A Global Health Reciprocal Innovation grant programme: 5-year review with lessons learnt.

Unilateral approaches to global health innovations can be transformed into cocreative, uniquely collaborative relationships between low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income countries (HIC), constituted as 'reciprocal innovation' (RI). Since 2018, the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) and Indiana University (IU) Center for Global Health Equity have led a grants programme sculpted from the core elements of RI, a concept informed by a 30-year partnership started between IU (Indiana) and Moi University (Kenya), which leverages knowledge sharing, transformational learning and translational innovations to address shared health challenges. In this paper, we describe the evolution and implementation of an RI grants programme, as well as the challenges faced.

Ethical Considerations for Engaging Children and Adolescents Living with HIV in Research in African Countries: A Systematic Review.

Research engaging children and adolescents living with HIV (CALWH) is critical for youth-friendly services and HIV care, and researchers need to ensure that such engagement is ethical. We conducted a systematic review to identify key ethical considerations for the engagement of CALWH in research. The review focused on primary research articles conducted in African countries that examined ethical issues in CALWH engaged in research.

Ethical Considerations for Engaging Youth Living with HIV in Research: Perspectives from Youth, Their Caregivers and Subject Matter Experts in Kenya.

Engaging youth living with HIV (YLWH) in research is critical to improving HIV-related outcomes, but their involvement raises unaddressed bioethical questions. This study used qualitative inquiry with Kenyan YLWH, caregivers, and subject matter experts (SMEs) to evaluate ethical considerations and strategies for research involving YLWH. Interviews were conducted with 99 participants: 40 YLWH (median age 17.

The ratio of auxin to cytokinin controls leaf development and meristem initiation in Physcomitrium patens.

Crosstalk between auxin and cytokinin contributes to widespread developmental processes, including root and shoot meristem maintenance, phyllotaxy, and vascular patterning. However, our understanding of crosstalk between these hormones is limited primarily to angiosperms. The moss Physcomitrium patens (formerly Physcomitrella patens) is a powerful system for studying plant hormone function.

Factors associated with caregiver compliance to an HIV disclosure intervention and its effect on HIV and mental health outcomes among children living with HIV: instrumental variable-based analysis of a cluster randomized trial in Eldoret, Kenya.

Background: The HADITHI study is a cluster-randomized trial of children living with HIV and their caregivers in Kenya that aimed to increase rates of caregiver disclosure of their child's HIV status, encourage earlier status disclosure, and improve pediatric mental health and HIV outcomes. This analysis identified characteristics predicting caregiver non-responsiveness and compared outcomes among children based on disclosure status.

Methods: A penalized logistic regression model with lasso regularization identified the most important predictors of disclosure.

A Wox3-patterning module organizes planar growth in grass leaves and ligules.

Grass leaves develop from a ring of primordial initial cells within the periphery of the shoot apical meristem, a pool of organogenic stem cells that generates all of the organs of the plant shoot. At maturity, the grass leaf is a flattened, strap-like organ comprising a proximal supportive sheath surrounding the stem and a distal photosynthetic blade. The sheath and blade are partitioned by a hinge-like auricle and the ligule, a fringe of epidermally derived tissue that grows from the adaxial (top) leaf surface.

HIV-Related Stigma Shapes Research Participation for Youth Living With HIV in Kenya.

HIV stigma affects medication adherence, psychosocial outcomes, and clinical management for youth living with HIV (YLWH). We explored the impact of HIV stigma on research participation, to inform the ethical engagement of this vulnerable group. We interviewed 40 YLWH, 20 caregivers, and 39 subject matter experts (SMEs); transcripts were analyzed by HK and EG, with emerging themes confirmed by JA and AC.

Global HIV prevention, care and treatment services for children: a cross-sectional survey from the International Epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) consortium.

Objectives: To assess access children with HIV have to comprehensive HIV care services, to longitudinally evaluate the implementation and scale-up of services, and to use site services and clinical cohort data to explore whether access to these services influences retention in care.

Methods: A cross-sectional standardised survey was completed in 2014-2015 by sites providing paediatric HIV care across regions of the International Epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) consortium. We developed a comprehensiveness score based on the WHO's nine categories of essential services to categorise sites as 'low' (0-5), 'medium', (6-7) or 'high' (8-9).

"It is like an umbrella covering you, yet it does not protect you from the rain": a mixed methods study of insurance affordability, coverage, and financial protection in rural western Kenya.

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are increasingly adopting mandatory social health insurance programs. In Kenya, mandatory social health insurance is being implemented through the national health insurer, the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), but the level of coverage, affordability and financial risk protection provided by health insurance, especially for rural informal households, is unclear. This study provides as assessment of affordability of NHIF premiums, the need for financial risk protection, and the extent of financial protection provided by NHIF among rural informal workers in western Kenya.

Multi-media teacher training and HIV-related stigma among primary and secondary school teachers in Western Kenya.

HIV stigma is associated with delayed HIV disclosure and worse clinical outcomes for adolescents living with HIV (ALWH). Teachers critically influence school environments, but are understudied in terms of HIV stigma. We implemented a school-level, cluster-randomized trial to assess the impact of a one-day multi-media training on the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs (K/A/B) of school teachers in western Kenya.

Reciprocal innovation: A new approach to equitable and mutually beneficial global health partnerships.

Global health researchers often discount mutual learning and benefit to address shared health challenges across high and low- and middle-income settings. Drawing from a 30-year partnership called AMPATH that started between Indiana University in the US and Moi University in Kenya, we describe an innovative approach and program for mutual learning and benefit coined 'reciprocal innovation.' Reciprocal innovation harnesses a bidirectional, co-constituted, and iterative exchange of ideas, resources, and innovations to address shared health challenges across diverse global settings.

Boundary domain genes were recruited to suppress bract growth and promote branching in maize.

Grass inflorescence development is diverse and complex and involves sophisticated but poorly understood interactions of genes regulating branch determinacy and leaf growth. Here, we use a combination of transcript profiling and genetic and phylogenetic analyses to investigate () and , two maize genes that simultaneously suppress inflorescence leaf growth and promote branching. We identify a regulatory network of inflorescence leaf suppression that involves the phase change gene upstream of and the ligule identity gene ().

Integrating GWAS and TWAS to elucidate the genetic architecture of maize leaf cuticular conductance.

The cuticle, a hydrophobic layer of cutin and waxes synthesized by plant epidermal cells, is the major barrier to water loss when stomata are closed. Dissecting the genetic architecture of natural variation for maize (Zea mays L.) leaf cuticular conductance (gc) is important for identifying genes relevant to improving crop productivity in drought-prone environments.

'We are not going anywhere': a qualitative study of Kenyan healthcare worker perspectives on adolescent HIV care engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) may be vulnerable to widescale impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and to health system responses which impact HIV care. We assessed healthcare worker (HCW) perspectives on impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent HIV care delivery and engagement in western Kenya.

Methods: We performed in-depth qualitative interviews with HCW at 10 clinical sites in the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare in Kenya, from January to March, 2021.