Bridging the gap: increasing collaboration between research mentors and career development educators for PhD and postdoctoral training success.

National reports and funding mandates have called for trainee-centered PhD and postdoctoral training and the need to support diverse career outcomes. As a result, career and professional development (CPD) resources have expanded at several institutions. Despite the growth of innovative and impactful CPD resources, access to and awareness of resources have been inconsistent and inequitable for graduate and postdoctoral trainees. In the current model, core education occurs in two unconnected ways: faculty research mentors provide scientific competencies training, while CPD educators provide transferable competencies training, which is separate from the curriculum and optional at most institutions. Research mentors are influential in supporting trainee engagement with CPD programs; however, most are either unaware of the rapidly growing opportunities or may not see the direct benefit to scientific development and productivity. Due to this disconnect, some trainees can be inadvertently distanced from CPD resources, leading to more inequities among groups. To bridge this gap, here we propose a realignment of the current model via a set of practical and collaborative solutions providing benefit to all stakeholders. With greater awareness and collaboration, research mentors and CPD educators can complement each other's expertise to better support trainee experiences and outcomes.

Higher education and science popularization: Can they achieve coordinated growth?

This study aims to explore whether higher education and science popularization can achieve coordinated growth with temporal and spatial characteristics. Selecting the provincial regions of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China as cases with data from the national statistics administrations (such as China Statistical Yearbook), this study uses entropy weight analysis, TOPSIS, GM(1,1) gray prediction methods and coupling coordination degree model to evaluate the coordinated growth status. The key findings are: (1) the annual budget per student, and the number of science and technology museums affect both systems more obviously; (2) the overall performances of science popularization fluctuate more obviously than those of higher education; (3) the coordinated growth performances of the two systems in most regions remain mild fluctuations and keep relatively stable coordinated status, however, temporal and spatial variation tendencies do exist among regions. Therefore, corresponding countermeasures should be implemented: generally, national authority needs to involve in coordination activities among regions; the regions with satisfactory coordinated growth performances need more creative approaches to maintain the coordinated growth interactions; the regions at the transitioning status need to prevent the grade decline and upgrade the performances; the regions with lagging performances need to stop the decline and reduce the gaps with others. The novelties include analyzing the coordinated growth interaction mechanism between the two, selecting indices to assess the abstract interaction mechanism precisely, proposing suggestions based on temporal and spatial comparisons of the coordinated growth performances, etc.

The broader societal impacts of COVID-19 and the growing importance of capturing these in health economic analyses.

AbstractThe rapid spread of the current COVID-19 pandemic has affected societies worldwide, leading to excess mortality, long-lasting health consequences, strained healthcare systems, and additional strains and spillover effects on other sectors outside health (i.e., intersectoral costs and benefits). In this perspective piece, we demonstrate the broader societal impacts of COVID-19 on other sectors outside the health sector and the growing importance of capturing these in health economic analyses. These broader impacts include, for instance, the effects on the labor market and productivity, education, criminal justice, housing, consumption, and environment. The current pandemic highlights the importance of adopting a societal perspective to consider these broader impacts of public health issues and interventions and only omit these where it can be clearly justified as appropriate to do so. Furthermore, we explain how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated existing deep-rooted structural inequalities that contribute to the wider societal impacts of the pandemic.

Coletiva de imprensa: anúncio na área de educação - 13/01/2021

O Governador João Doria e os Secretário de Estado Rossieli Soares (Educação) e Marco Vinholi (Desenvolvimento Regional) apresentaram aos 645 prefeitos do Estado os detalhes da volta às aulas presenciais a partir de 1º de fevereiro na rede pública estadual. No encontro online também foi anunciado investimento de R$ 80 milhões para o programa de ampliação de oferta de vagas em creches escolares. “A Educação é fundamental para todos nós que somos pais, temos filhos que há mais de 12 meses estão distante de suas aulas, do ensino, de seus professores e que precisam, com critério, com planejamento retomarem suas aulas”, disse o Governador João Doria. A retomada ocorrerá no próximo dia 1º de fevereiro. Para este ano, foi autorizada pelo Governo do Estado a abertura das escolas em todas as fases do Plano São Paulo, obedecendo aos critérios de segurança estabelecidos pelo Centro de Contingência do Coronavírus. “Hoje, a ciência nos mostra que o espaço escolar é seguro desde que realizemos todos os protocolos corretamente. Como Governo do Estado, estamos seguindo a ciência e junto com as prefeituras, vamos avançar para priorizar cada vez mais a educação, abrindo nossas escolas para todos os estudantes”, explicou o Secretário da Educação, Rossieli Soares. Além do tema da volta às aulas, foram abordadas as parcerias entre Estado e Municípios, como materiais didáticos, merenda e transporte escolar. No encontro virtual, também foi anunciado um novo programa para ampliação de vagas em creches municipais. O diferencial para este ano é que as prefeituras poderão ofertar seus próprios projetos de obras para construção. O número de vagas ofertadas dependerá das demandas dos municípios. Detalhes sobre o programa serão publicados em resolução nos próximos dias.

National expenditure on health research in South Africa: How has the landscape changed in the past decade?

BACKGROUND: Over the past 18 years, the South African (SA) Ministry of Health has committed to allocate 2% of the national health budget to research, while the National Health Research Policy (2001) proposed that the health research budget should be 2% of total public sector health expenditure. A review was conducted by the National Health Research Committee (NHRC) in 2014 to determine whether these goals had been met, using available data up to 2009/10. It revealed that public sector health research funding remained below 2% of the national health budget, supporting the perception of reduced public sector health research funding. OBJECTIVES: To provide an update on the previous review to investigate changes in the health research landscape since 2009/10 and whether goals have been met. METHODS: Various publicly available sources of information on public and private expenditure on health research in SA were used to investigate health research funding and expenditure. In addition, questionnaires were sent to 35 major national and international funders of health research in SA to obtain data on the level of funding provided and the fields of research funded. RESULTS: Total health research expenditure in SA was ZAR6.9 billion in 2016/17, or 19.2% of gross expenditure on research and development, with 1.7% of the ZAR38.6 billion National Department of Health budget from National Treasury being spent on health research through the South African Medical Research Council (ZAR658 million), corresponding to 0.4% of the consolidated government expenditure on health. However, although the total government plus science council spend on health research in 2016/17 was ZAR1.45 billion, this represents just 0.033% of the gross domestic product (GDP), thus remaining well below the aspirational target of 0.15% of the GDP set by the NHRC in 2014. Based on feedback from the funders, the estimated baseline health research funding in 2016/17 was in excess of ZAR4.1 billion, which is considerably higher than many researchers may realise. Three-quarters of this funding originated from foreign sources, suggesting both strengths and opportunities for health research in SA, but also highlighting increasing dependence on foreign funding. Notably, the majority of funders approached were not able to readily break down expenditure according to disease area. CONCLUSIONS: Health research funding has changed significantly since our previous review, although the government's own commitments to it remain unmet. Improved mechanisms to track health research expenditure are urgently required for better alignment of funding priorities and increased co-ordination between science councils in health research funding.

Using ex-ante economic evaluation to inform research priorities in pesticide self-poisoning prevention: the case of a shop-based gatekeeper training programme in rural Sri Lanka.

OBJECTIVES: Suicide by pesticide self-poisoning is a major public health challenge in low- and middle-income countries. While effectiveness studies are required to test alternative prevention approaches, economic evidence is lacking to inform decision-making in research priority setting. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the costs of a shop-based gatekeeper training programme for pesticide vendors seeking to prevent pesticide self-poisoning in rural Sri Lanka and assess its potential for cost-effectiveness. METHODS: Ex-ante cost and cost-effectiveness threshold (CET) analyses were performed from a governmental perspective based on a three-year analytic horizon, using 'no programme' as a comparator. A programme model targeting all 535 pesticide shops in the North Central Province and border areas was applied. Total programme costs (TPC) were estimated in 2019 USD using an ingredients approach and 3% annual discounting. The Sri Lankan gross domestic product per capita and life years saved were used as CET and effectiveness measure, respectively. Sensitivity analyses were performed. RESULTS: TPC were estimated at 31 603.03 USD. TPC were sensitive to cost changes of training material and equipment and the programme lifetime. The programme needs to prevent an estimated 0.23 fatal pesticide self-poisoning cases over three years to be considered cost-effective. In the sensitivity analyses, the highest number of fatal cases needed to be prevented to obtain cost-effectiveness was 4.55 over three years. CONCLUSIONS: From an economic perspective, the programme has a very high potential to be cost-effective. Research assessing its effectiveness should therefore be completed, and research analysing its transferability to other settings prioritised.

OBJECTIFS: Le suicide par auto-intoxication par les pesticides est un défi majeur de santé publique dans les pays à revenu faible ou intermédiaire. Bien que des études d'efficacité soient nécessaires pour tester d'autres approches de prévention, les données économiques manquent pour informer la prise de décision dans les priorités de recherche. Par conséquent, cette étude visait à estimer les coûts d'un programme de formation des vendeurs dans les magasins de pesticides visant à prévenir l'auto-intoxication par les pesticides dans les régions rurales du Sri Lanka et à évaluer son potentiel de rentabilité. MÉTHODES: Les analyses ex-ante des coûts et des seuils de rentabilité (SR) ont été réalisées dans une perspective gouvernementale sur la base d'un horizon analytique de trois ans, en utilisant «l'absence de programme¼ comme comparateur. Un modèle de programme ciblant les 535 magasins de pesticides de la province du Centre-Nord et des zones frontalières a été appliqué. Les coûts totaux du programme (CTP) ont été estimés en USD 2019 en utilisant une approche d'ingrédients et une remise annuelle de 3%. Le produit intérieur brut sri-lankais par habitant et les années de vie sauvées ont été utilisés comme SR et mesure d'efficacité, respectivement. Des analyses de sensibilité ont été effectuées. RÉSULTATS: le CTP a été estimé à 31.603,03 USD. Le CTP était sensible aux changements de coût du matériel et de l'équipement de formation et de la durée de vie du programme. Le programme devrait prévenir environ 0,23 cas d'auto-intoxication mortelle par des pesticide sur trois ans pour être considéré comme rentable. Dans les analyses de sensibilité, le plus grand nombre de cas mortels à prévenir pour obtenir une rentabilité était de 4,55 sur trois ans. CONCLUSIONS: D'un point de vue économique, le programme a un potentiel très élevé pour être rentable. La recherche évaluant son efficacité doit donc être complétée et la recherche analysant sa transférabilité à d'autres contextes doit être priorisée.

Correlation between private education costs and parental depression in South Korea.

BACKGROUND: In Korea, higher education has rapidly grown influenced by sociocultural tradition. Parents invest a significant portion of their household income in their children's education. Private education has been considered to greatly affect students' psychology and behavior. However, past research has largely neglected to study parents who pay these costs. Since household income and education level are important determinants of socioeconomic status (SES), education expenditures are likely to cause depressive symptoms. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the correlation between private education costs and parental depression in South Korea. METHODS: Data were collected from the Korean Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS, 2015, 2018). The sample analyzed consisted of 397 and 337 fathers and 403 and 370 mothers in 2015 and 2018, respectively. The independent variable in this study was the proportion of private education cost. This proportion was calculated by dividing each household's private education costs by its equivalized household disposable income (EHDI) and multiplying this number by 100. The main dependent variable was parental responses to the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-11 (CESD-11). Using a generalized linear model, we investigated the effects of the proportion of private education cost on parental depression. RESULTS: The results showed that fathers with higher proportions of private education cost exhibited higher CESD-11 scores compared to fathers with lower proportions cost (moderate: ß = 0.419, S. E = 0.164, p = 0.0105; high: ß = 0.476, S. E = 0.178, p = 0.0076), indicating that a higher ratio of private education cost may negatively affect depression in fathers. However, there was no discernable correlation between mothers' CESD-11 scores and the proportion of private education cost (moderate: ß = - 0.078, S. E = 0.250, p = 0.7555; high: ß = 0.003, S. E = 0.215, p = 0.9882). CONCLUSIONS: These results may be explained by the tendency for fathers to experience greater economic burdens than mothers in patriarchal Korean society.

The Economic Burden of Pediatric Postconcussive Syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the direct costs of pediatric postconcussive syndrome (PCS). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Subspecialty sports medicine clinics of a large pediatric tertiary care network in the United States. PATIENTS: One hundred fifty-four patients aged 5 to 18 years with PCS, evaluated between 2010 and 2011. ASSESSMENT OF INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Direct costs included visits to sports medicine clinic, visio-vestibular therapy, homebound education, subspecialist referral, and prescription-only medications (amantadine and amitriptyline), all measured beginning at 28 days after injury. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Postconcussive syndrome was defined as persistence beyond 28 days from injury. RESULTS: The cost incurred by each PCS patient for sports medicine visits was $1575, for visio-vestibular therapy was $985, for homebound tutoring was $55, for prescription medications was $22, and for subspecialist referral was $120, totaling $3557 per patient, with a 95% confidence interval range of $2886 to $4257. CONCLUSIONS: Given the high economic costs of PCS determined in this study, therapies that mitigate this syndrome may have the potential to be cost-effective and even cost saving.

Consistent Provisions Mitigate Exposure to Sexual Risk and HIV Among Young Adolescents in South Africa.

Exposure to sexual risk in early adolescence strongly predicts HIV infection, yet evidence for prevention in young adolescents is limited. We pooled data from two longitudinal South African surveys, with adolescents unexposed to sexual risk at baseline (n = 3662). Multivariable logistic regression tested associations between intermittent/consistent access to eight provisions and reduced sexual risk exposure. Participants were on average 12.8 years, 56% female at baseline. Between baseline and follow-up, 8.6% reported sexual risk exposure. Consistent access to caregiver supervision (OR 0.53 95%CI 0.35-0.80 p = 0.002), abuse-free homes (OR 0.55 95%CI 0.37-0.81 p = 0.002), school feeding (OR 0.55 95%CI 0.35-0.88 p = 0.012), and HIV prevention knowledge (OR 0.43, 95%CI 0.21-0.88 p = 0.021) was strongly associated with preventing early sexual risk exposure. While individual factors reduced the odds of sexual risk exposure, a combination of all four resulted in a greater reduction, from 12.9% (95%CI 7.2-18.7) to 1.0% (95%CI 0.2-1.8). Consistent access to provisions in early adolescence may prevent sexual risk exposure among younger adolescents.