We have tested the hypothesis that kinesin-1A (formerly KIF5A) is an anterograde motor for axonal neurofilaments. In cultured sympathetic neurons from kinesin-1A knockout mice, we observed a 75% reduction in the frequency of both anterograde and retrograde neurofilament movement. This transport defect could be rescued by kinesin-1A, and with successively decreasing efficacy by kinesin-1B and kinesin-1C. In wild-type neurons, headless mutants of kinesin-1A and kinesin-1C inhibited both anterograde and retrograde movement in a dominant-negative manner. Because dynein is thought to be the retrograde motor for axonal neurofilaments, we investigated the effect of dynein inhibition on anterograde and retrograde neurofilament transport. Disruption of dynein function by using RNA interference, dominant-negative approaches, or a function-blocking antibody also inhibited both anterograde and retrograde neurofilament movement. These data suggest that kinesin-1A is the principal but not exclusive anterograde motor for neurofilaments in these neurons, that there may be some functional redundancy among the kinesin-1 isoforms with respect to neurofilament transport, and that the activities of the anterograde and retrograde neurofilament motors are tightly coordinated.

We investigated the axonal transport of neurofilaments in cultured neurons from two different strains ofdilute lethalmice, which lack myosin Va. To analyze the motile behavior, we tracked the movement of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged neurofilaments through naturally occurring gaps in the axonal neurofilament array of cultured superior cervical ganglion neurons from DLS/LeJdilute lethalmice. Compared with wild-type controls, we observed no statistically significant difference in velocity or frequency of movement. To analyze the pausing behavior, we used a fluorescence photoactivation pulse–escape technique to measure the rate of departure of PAGFP (photoactivatable GFP)-tagged neurofilaments from photoactivated axonal segments in cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons from DLS/LeJ anddl20Jdilute lethalmice. Compared with wild-type controls, we observed a 48% increase in the mean time for neurofilaments to depart the activated regions in neurons from DLS/LeJ mice (p< 0.001) and a 169% increase in neurons fromdl20J mice (p< 0.0001). These data indicate that neurofilaments pause for more prolonged periods in the absence of myosin Va. We hypothesize that myosin Va is a short-range motor for neurofilaments and that it can function to enhance the efficiency of neurofilament transport in axons by delivering neurofilaments to their microtubule tracks, thereby reducing the duration of prolonged off-track pauses.

Educators who design and manage study abroad programs face a series of ethical responsibilities. Meeting these responsibilities is critical in the field of global health, where study abroad programs are often designed to provide healthcare services in under-resourced communities. Leaders in global health have thus formed working groups to study the ethical implications of overseas programming and have led the way in establishing socially responsible best practices for study abroad. Their recommendations include development of bidirectional programming that is designed for mutual and equitable benefits, focused on locally identified needs and priorities, attentive to local community costs, and structured to build local capacity to ensure sustainability. Implementation remains a key challenge, however. Sustainable, bidirectional programming is difficult and costly. In the present study, authors questioned how technology could be used to connect students of global health in distant countries to make socially responsible global health programming more accessible. Drawing on empirical research in the learning sciences and leveraging best practices in technology design, the authors developed a Virtual Exchange in Global Health to connect university students in the U.S. with counterparts in Lebanon, who worked in teams to address humanitarian problems in Syrian refugee camps. Early results demonstrate the value of this approach. At dramatically lower cost than traditional study abroad—and with essentially no carbon footprint—students recognized complementary strengths in each other through bidirectional programming, learned about local needs and priorities through Virtual Reality, and built sustaining relationships while addressing a difficult real-world problem. The authors learned that technology could effectively facilitate socially responsible global health programming and do so at low cost. The program has important implications for teaching and learning during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

Pesticides, despite their known toxicity, are widely used in developing countries to increase their crops. Evaluating the pattern of the pesticides is recommended for the appropriateness of adequate intervention. A pilot community-based educational intervention tackling the safe use of pesticides by promoting farmers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) was conducted to assess the effectiveness of such interventions in developing the knowledge and positive attitudes of farmers to towards safe use of pesticides. The pilot intervention is a quasi-experimental quantitative study, based on pre and post approach. A pre-post questionnaire tested for its internal reliability (α = 0.78), carried out at the baseline and immediately after the training sessions. Thirty-seven farmers from two regions (Cazas) in Mount Lebanon district have participated. Descriptive analysis and a paired t-test were conducted. The results show statistically significant improvements after the intervention. The mean score of the farmers’ knowledge significantly increased (M = 0.8, SD= 0.2) compared to (M = 0.6, SD = 0.1) at the baseline (p < 0.05). As for practice, significant increase was observed (M = 1.466, SD = 0.590) compared to (M = 0.663, SD= 0.295) at the baseline (p < 0.05). Also for positive attitude, a significant increase was observed (M = 0.97, SD = 0.20) compared to (M = 0.9, SD= 0.17) at the baseline (p < 0.05). This one-time educational intervention successfully increased the farmers’ KAP regarding safe pesticide use. Continuous pesticide education is recommended to induce the responsible and protective behaviors among farmers in Lebanon.