A computational investigation of cis-gene regulation in evolution.

In biological processes involving gene networks, genes regulate other genes that determine the phenotypic traits. Gene regulation plays an important role in evolutionary dynamics. In a genetic algorithm, a trans-gene regulatory mechanism was shown to speed up adaptation and evolution. Here, we examine the effect of cis-gene regulation on an adaptive system. The model is haploid. A chromosome is partitioned into regulatory loci and structural loci. The regulatory genes regulate the expression and functioning of structural genes via the cis-elements in a probabilistic manner. In the simulation, the change in the allele frequency, the mean population fitness and the efficiency of phenotypic selection are monitored. Cis-gene regulation increases adaption and accelerates the evolutionary process in comparison with the case involving absence of gene regulation. Some special features of the simulation results are as follows. A low ratio of regulatory loci and structural loci gives higher adaptation for fixed total number of loci. Plasticity is advantageous beyond a threshold value. Adaptation is better for large number of total loci when the ratio of regulatory loci to structural loci is one. However, it reaches a saturation beyond which the increase in the total loci is not advantageous. Efficiency of the phenotypic selection is higher for larger value of the initial plasticity.

Review on the use of eLearning in teacher education during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Africa.

This study explored the use of eLearning in teacher education during COVID-19 in Africa. The literature review was an important source of information for this study and employed a historical design. From the review, the findings indicate that eLearning accommodates all people regardless of their geographical background and enhances learner-centeredness and self-study opportunities. Findings also indicate that it enhances access to updated content for students and is cost-effective as opposed to conventional methods that need the presence of the teacher, buildings, teaching and learning materials, and physical libraries. However, the findings indicate that eLearning faces the challenges such as health-related problems because of excessive use of computers for a long time which may result in low vision. Findings also indicate the challenge of the digital divide and a lack of stable Internet services and connectivity as they are rarely accessed in many teacher colleges and universities including, a lack of availability of computers for students in African countries. Further, the findings indicate the other challenge of eLearning based on its vulnerability to online attacks on the websites that may lead to questioning the quality of education provided through the eLearning model. The key argument in this study is that eLearning will remain an unavoidable option for the provision of teacher education in the world and African countries in particular at the threshold of a global pandemic similar to COVID-19 regardless of the risks involved. African Governments need to invest in digital learning by strengthening Internet connectivity and improving the Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) infrastructure, i.e., the provision of computers and Televisions (TVs) to educational institutions to sustain students' learning during pandemics similar to COVID-19 and other unpredictable situations.

Improving Adolescent Health Services across High Priority Districts in 6 States of India: Learnings from an Integrated Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health Project.

BACKGROUND: India has been at the forefront of designing adolescent health (AH) policies. The National Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health policy (2006), the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn Child, and AH strategy (2013), and the "Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK)" (2014) have been the critical milestones in this direction. However, despite policies being available, the AH outcomes need improvement through operationalization of focused and need-based AH interventions. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to improve services for RKSK interventions across select geographies of India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: USAID's VRIDDHI Project has been providing technical support at the national level and in six focus states to improve uptake of evidence-based high-impact reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and AH interventions. To improve AH services and outcomes, two approaches were implemented, namely (a) strengthen the functioning of adolescent-friendly health clinics in 95 high caseload health facilities in 26 high priority districts across six states and (b) demonstrate other operational strategies outlined in RKSK program including strengthening of district committees on AH, undertaking formative research for developing adolescent-focused communication strategy, and operationalizing weekly iron and folic acid supplementation program. RESULTS: As a result of ongoing technical support over 2-year period (January 2016-December 2017), improvements were noted across multiple AH indicators. In addition, evidence-based learnings were also generated from the demonstration models for potential scale up to other geographies. CONCLUSION: The project was successful in improving AH services in the intervention facilities through an integrated approach which is replicable, sustainable, and scalable for driving the AH program in India.

Diabetic Foot Ulcer Complications and Its Management-a Medical College-Based Descriptive Study in Odisha, an Eastern State of India.

The aim of this study was to prepare a profile of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) complications and its management and to assess the outcome of the surgical interventions. A prospective study was carried out in 60 patients with DFU during the period of January 2009 to October 2010 to categorize them based on Meggit-Wagner system and to find out the complications, management, below knee amputation rate, and mortality rate. Majority of the patients (30 %, n = 18) presented with Wegner grade 3 DFU. Only three patients (5 %) presented with grade 0 DFU. Split skin grafting was the most frequently done intervention, comprising 29 % of the time. Below knee amputation was required in 10 % of cases and mortality rate was 12 %. Lack of awareness about diabetes mellitus and its lower limb complications, poor compliance to the treatment, poorly controlled blood sugar levels, delay in diagnosis, and late presentation to the tertiary care center are all factors which led to occurrence of DFU at an age earlier than that seen in other studies.

Phenotypic plasticity can potentiate rapid evolutionary change.

Using a computational model of string-like haploid genotypes, we verify the conjecture (J. Theor. Biol. 188 (1997) 153) that phenotypic plasticity can speed up evolution. The corresponding real-life situation was realized by Waddington in experiments carried out on the fruit fly Drosophila. Waddington found that after selecting for an environmentally induced trait over a number of generations, a new, true-breeding phenotype resulted that was absent in the starting population. The phenomenon, termed 'genetic assimilation', continues to attract interest because of the rapidity of the effect and because of its seemingly Lamarckian implications. By making use of a genetic algorithm-based approach developed previously, we show that conventional Darwinian selection acting on regulatory genes can account for genetic assimilation. The essential assumption in our model is that a structural gene can be in either of three allelic states. These correspond to its being (a) 'on' or 'off' constitutively or (b) in a plastic state in which the probability that it is 'on' or 'off' is influenced by regulatory loci in a dosage-dependent manner.

Evolution of mutualism through spatial effects.

Mutualism among species is ubiquitous in natural ecosystems but its evolution is not well understood. We provided a simple lattice model to clarify the importance of spatial structure for the evolution of mutualism. We assumed reproductive rates of two species are modified through interaction between species and examine conditions where mutualists of both species, that give some benefit to the other species with their own cost, invade non-mutualists populations. When dispersal of offspring is unlimited, we verified the evolution of mutualism is impossible under any condition. On the other hand, when the dispersal is limited to neighboring lattice sites, mutualists can invade if the ratio of cost to benefit is low and the intrinsic reproductive rate is low in case where the parameter values are symmetric between species. Under the same conditions, non-mutualists cannot invade mutualist populations, that is, the latter are evolutionarily stable. In case of asymmetric parameters, mutualists tend to invade if the average value of costs to two species is low or that of benefits is high, and if the intrinsic reproductive rate is low for one of the two species. A mechanistic explanation of why mutualists increase when the dispersal is limited is given by showing that mutualist pairs of the two species at the same lattice site rapidly increase at the initial phase of the invasion.