Experimental evidence on improving COVID-19 vaccine outreach among migrant communities on social media

Studies from several countries suggest that COVID-19 vaccination rates are lower among migrants compared to the general population. Urgent calls have been made to improve vaccine outreach to migrants, however, there is limited evidence on effective approaches, especially using social media. We assessed a targeted, low-cost, Facebook campaign disseminating COVID-19 vaccine information among Arabic, Turkish and Russian speakers in Germany (N = 888,994). As part of the campaign, we conducted two randomized, online experiments to assess the impact of the advertisement (1) language and (2) depicted messenger (government authority, religious leader, doctor or family). Key outcomes included reach, click-through rates, conversion rates and cost-effectiveness. Within 29 days, the campaign reached 890 thousand Facebook users. On average, 2.3 individuals accessed the advertised COVID-19 vaccination appointment tool for every euro spent on the campaign. Migrants were 2.4 (Arabic), 1.8 (Russian) and 1.2 (Turkish) times more likely to click on advertisements translated to their native language compared to German-language advertisements. Furthermore, findings showed that government representatives can be more successful in engaging migrants online compared to other messengers, despite common claims of lower trust in government institutions among migrants. This study highlights the potential of tailored, and translated, vaccination campaigns on social media for reaching migrants who may be left out by traditional media campaigns.

Is There a Rural Penalty in Language Acquisition? Evidence From Germany's Refugee Allocation Policy

Emerging evidence has highlighted the important role of local contexts for integration trajectories of asylum seekers and refugees. Germany's policy of randomly allocating asylum seekers across Germany may advantage some and disadvantage others in terms of opportunities for equal participation in society. This study explores the question whether asylum seekers that have been allocated to rural areas experience disadvantages in terms of language acquisition compared to those allocated to urban areas. We derive testable assumptions using a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) which are then tested using large-N survey data (IAB-BAMF-SOEP refugee survey). We find that living in a rural area has no negative total effect on language skills. Further the findings suggest that the "null effect" is the result of two processes which offset each other: while asylum seekers in rural areas have slightly lower access for formal, federally organized language courses, they have more regular exposure to German speakers.

The Long-Term Effects of Time Use during High School on Positive Development

This longitudinal study examines how the time that youth spend in activities during high school may contribute to positive or negative development in adolescence and in early adulthood. We draw on data from 1103 participants in the longitudinal Youth Development Study, followed from entry to high school to their mid-twenties. Controlling demographic, socioeconomic, and psychological influences, we estimate the effects of average time spent on homework, in extracurricular activities, and with friends during the four years of high school on outcomes measured in the final year of high school and twelve years later. Our results suggest that policies surrounding the implementation and practice of homework may have long-term benefits for struggling students. In contrast, time spent with peers on weeknights was associated with both short- and long-term maladjustment.

Chloroquine for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in Guyana

At a public hospital in Georgetown, Guyana, 44 patients seeking treatment for symptomatic, slide-confirmed malaria were given standard chloroquine (CQ) therapy and followed for 28 days. The patients apparently had pure infections with Plasmodium falciparum (14), P. vivax (13) or P. malariae (one), or mixed infections either of P. falciparum and P. vivax (17) or of P. falciparum, P. malariae and P. vivax (two). Each received supervised treatment with 10 mg CQ base/kg on each of days 0 and 1, and 5 mg/kg on day 2. On the day of enrollment (day 0), the patients complained of fever (100%), headache (100%), malaise (94%), myalgia (79%), nausea (67%), vertigo (49%) and vomiting (33%). Many (39%) were ill enough to confine themselves to bed. On day 4, fewer of the subjects complained of fever (15%), headache (15%), malaise (6%), myalgia (21%), nausea (6%), vertigo (24%) or vomiting (0%) despite the relatively high (>48%) risk of therapeutic failure. The cumulative incidence of parasitological failure against P. falciparum was 15% at day 4, 33% at day 7 and 48% at day 14. All of the P. vivax and P. malariae infections cleared before day 4 and none recurred by day 7. Two infections with P. vivax recurred later (on day 14 or 28) but in the presence of less than adequate, whole-blood concentrations of CQ plus desethyl-chloroquine (i.e. <100 ng/ml). Taken together, the results indicate a high risk of therapeutic failure of CQ against P. falciparum but also indicate that resistance to CQ in P. vivax occurs infrequently in Guyana.

Tuber physiology and properties of starch from tubers of transgenic potato plants with altered plastidic adenylate transporter activity

We showed recently that antisense plants with decreased activity of the plastidic ATP/ADP-transporter protein exhibit drastically reduced levels of starch and a decreased amylose/amylopectin ratio, whereas sense plants with increased activity of the transporter possessed more starch than wild-type plants and an increased amylose/amylopectin ratio. In this paper we investigate the effect of altered plastidic ATP/ADP-transporter protein expression on primary metabolism and granule morphology in more detail. Tuber tissues from antisense and sense plants exhibited substantially increased respiratory activity compared with the wild type. Tubers from antisense plants contained markedly increased levels of free sugars, UDP-Glc, and hexose phosphates, whereas phosphoenolpyruvate, isocitrate, ATP, ADP, AMP, UTP, UDP, and inorganic pyrophosphate levels were slightly decreased. In contrast, tubers from sense plants revealed a slight increase in adenine and uridine nucleotides and in the levels of inorganic pyrophosphate, whereas no significant changes in the levels of soluble sugars and metabolites were observed. Antisense tubers contained 50% reduced levels of ADP-Glc, whereas sense tubers contained up to 2-fold increased levels of this sole precursor for starch biosynthesis. Microscopic examination of starch grain morphology revealed that the size of starch grains from antisense tubers was substantially smaller (50%) compared with the wild type. The large starch grains from sense tubers appeared of a more angular morphology, which differed to the more ellipsoid shape of wild type grains. The results suggest a close interaction between plastidial adenylate transport and starch biosynthesis, indicating that ADP-Glc pyrophosphorylase is ATP-limited in vivo and that changes in ADP-Glc concentration determine starch yield, as well as granule morphology. Possible factors linking starch synthesis and respiration are discussed.

Reduction in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection rate in a nursing home by aggressive containment strategies

For the month of October, 1993, the Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus nosocomial infection rate in our 42-bed Extended Care Unit/Nursing Home was 33% (8.5% for the 1993 year). Our facility was committed to decrease colonization and infection rates and to prevent the introduction of additional colonized patients into the closed environment. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus containment practices were instituted and consisted of total population and staff surveillance, aggressive containment measures and followed by maintenance containment protocols. The aggressive plan included contact isolation, baths with chlorhexagluconate, treatment of nasal carriers with mupiricin and treatment of both colonized and infected patients. This was followed by maintenance measures of screening new admissions for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus with contact isolation and treatment for positive as described during the aggressive phase. Total population surveillance was repeated after one year. Results showed that no employees were colonized with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The initial colonization rate in residents/patients was 52%. After one year the colonization rate dropped to 2% and the infection rate to 1.4%. Molecular epidemiology demonstrated that there was limited acquisition of new strains of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus within the Extended Care Unit. The process was shown to be cost effective. Aggressive containment practices applied to a nursing home with a high Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection rate not only reduced rates of colonization, but also markedly reduced infections. This reduction was maintained over time.

Two nucleotide transport proteins in Chlamydia trachomatis, one for net nucleoside triphosphate uptake and the other for transport of energy

The genome of Chlamydia trachomatis, one of the most prominent human pathogens, contains two structural genes coding for proteins, herein called Npt1Ct and Npt2Ct (nucleoside phosphate transporters 1 and 2 of C. trachomatis), exhibiting 68 and 61% similarity, respectively, to the ATP/ADP transporter from the intracellular bacterium Rickettsia prowazekii at the deduced amino acid level. Hydropathy analysis and sequence alignments suggested that both proteins have 12 transmembrane domains. The putative transporters were expressed as histidine-tagged proteins in Escherichia coli to study their biochemical properties. His10-Npt1Ct catalyzed ATP and ADP transport in an exchange mode. The apparent Km values were 48 (ATP) and 39 (ADP) microM. ATP and ADP transport was specific since AMP, GTP, CTP, UTP, dATP, dCTP, dGTP, and dTTP did not inhibit uptake. In contrast, His10-Npt2Ct transported all four ribonucleoside triphosphates with apparent Km values of 31 microM (GTP), 302 microM (UTP), 528 microM (CTP), and 1,158 microM (ATP). Ribonucleoside di- and monophosphates and deoxyribonucleotides were not substrates. The protonophore m-chlorocarbonylcyanide phenylhydrazone abolished uptake of all nucleoside triphosphates by Npt2Ct. This observation indicated that His10-Npt2Ct acts as a nucleosidetriphosphate/H+ symporter energized by the proton motive force across the Escherichia coli cytoplasmic membrane. We conclude that Npt1Ct provides chlamydiae with energy whereas Npt2Ct catalyzes the net uptake of ribonucleoside triphosphates required for anabolic reactions.

Expression of a plastidic ATP/ADP transporter gene in Escherichia coli leads to a functional adenine nucleotide transport system in the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane

Recently, a second type of eucaryotic adenine nucleotide transporter located in the inner envelope membrane of higher plants has been identified at the molecular level (Neuhaus, H. E., Thom, E., Möhlmann, T., Steup, M., and Kampfenkel, K. (1997) Plant J. 11, 73-82). Here we have analyzed the biochemical properties of this ATP/ADP transporter from Arabidopsis thaliana (AATP1, At). This analysis was carried out by expressing a cDNA encoding this carrier as a histidine-tagged chimeric protein heterologously in Escherichia coli. Isopropyl-1-thio-beta-D-galactopyranoside (IPTG)-induced E. coli cells were able to import radioactively labeled [alpha-32P]ATP. Uninduced E. coli cells did not import [alpha-32P]ATP. Further control experiments revealed that IPTG induction did not promote import of other phosphorylated or unphosphorylated metabolites into the bacterial cell indicating the specificity of [alpha-32P]ATP transport. [alpha-32P]ATP uptake into induced E. coli cells was linear with time for several minutes allowing for determination of kinetic constants. The apparent Km for ATP was 17 microM which is close to values reported on the authentic protein in isolated plastids. ADP was a strong competitive inhibitor of -alpha-32P-ATP uptake (Ki ADP 3.6 microM). Other metabolites like AMP, ADP glucose, UTP, UDP, NAD, and NADP did not influence [alpha-32P]ATP uptake. IPTG-induced E. coli cells preloaded with [alpha-32P]ATP exported radioactively labeled adenylates after exogenous addition of unlabeled ATP or ADP indicating a counter exchange mechanism of transport. The biochemical properties of the heterologously expressed AATP1 gene product demonstrated that the protein is functionally integrated in the cytoplasmic membrane of E. coli. This is the first report of the functional expression of a plant membrane protein in E. coli leading to new transport properties across the cytoplasmic membrane. The functional integration of a plant membrane protein in the cytoplasmic membrane of E. coli offers new possibilities for future studies of the structural and mechanistic properties of this transporter. Since IPTG induction allowed synthesis of a 67-kDa protein in E. coli, which was subsequently specifically enriched by metal-chelate chromatography, this procaryotic heterologous expression system might provide a suitable system for overproduction of membrane proteins of eucaryotic origin in the near future.

Occurrence of two plastidic ATP/ADP transporters in Arabidopsis thaliana L.--molecular characterisation and comparative structural analysis of similar ATP/ADP translocators from plastids and Rickettsia prowazekii

Recently, we sequenced a cDNA clone from Arabidopsis thaliana L. encoding an ATP/ADP transporter protein (AATP1) located in the plastid envelope membrane. The deduced amino acid sequence of AATP1 exhibits a high degree of similarity (> 66%) to the ATP/ADP transporter from the obligate intracellular gram-negative bacterium Rickettsia prowazekii. Here we report a second plastidic ATP/ADP carrier from A. thaliana (AATP2). As deduced from the amino acid sequence, AATP2 exhibits 77.6% identity to AATP1 and 36% to the rickettsial protein. Hydropathy analysis indicates that all three translocators are highly hydrophobic membrane proteins, which exhibit marked similarities and differences. The AATP1 translocator lacks the sixth transmembrane domain that is present in AATP2 and the bacterial transporter in R. prowazekii. In contrast to AATP1 and the bacterial transport protein, only AATP2 exhibits a truncated C-terminal end. To compare the general biochemical properties of AATP2 with the known transport properties of AATP1 we cloned the entire AATP2 cDNA into plasmid pJT118, leading to the presence of an additional N-terminal histidine tag of 10 amino acids. For heterologous expression of His10-AATP2 we chose the Escherichia coli strain C43, which was reported recently to allow overproduction of eucaryotic membrane transport proteins. After transformation and subsequent induction by isopropylthio-2-D-galactopyranoside intact E. coli cells harbouring plasmid pJT118 showed import of radioactively labelled ATP and ADP. As deduced from a Lineweaver-Burk analysis His10-AATP2 exhibited apparent Km values for ATP and ADP of 22 microM and 20 microM, respectively. Import of ADP into His10-AATP2-expressing E. coli cells occurred at a rate of 24 nmol x mg protein(-1) x h(-1), which was about threefold faster than import of ATP. These biochemical characteristics are similar to transport properties of the heterologously expressed His10-AATP1 protein.

ADP-glucose drives starch synthesis in isolated maize endosperm amyloplasts: characterization of starch synthesis and transport properties across the amyloplast envelope

We recently developed a method of purifying amyloplasts from developing maize (Zea mays L.) endosperm tissue [Neuhaus, Thom, Batz and Scheibe (1993) Biochem. J. 296, 395-401]. In the present paper we analyse how glucose 6-phosphate (Glc6P) and other phosphorylated compounds enter the plastid compartment. Using a proteoliposome system in which the plastid envelope membrane proteins are functionally reconstituted, we demonstrate that this type of plastid is able to transport [14C]Glc6P or [32P]Pi in counter exchange with Pi, Glc6P, dihydroxyacetone phosphate and phosphoenolpyruvate. Glucose 1-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate and ribose 5-phosphate do not act as substrates for counter exchange. Besides hexose phosphates, ADP-glucose (ADPGlc) also acts as a substrate for starch synthesis in isolated maize endosperm amyloplasts. This process exhibits saturation kinetics with increasing concentrations of exogenously supplied [14C]ADPGlc, reaching a maximum at 2mM. Ultrasonication of isolated amyloplasts greatly reduces the rate of ADPGlc-dependent starch synthesis, indicating that the process is dependent on the intactness of the organelles. The plastid ATP/ADP transporter is not responsible for ADPGlc uptake. Data are presented that indicate that ADPGlc is transported by another translocator in counter exchange with AMP. To analyse the physiology of starch synthesis in more detail, we examined how Glc6P- and ADPGlc-dependent starch synthesis in isolated maize endosperm amyloplasts interact. Glc6P-dependent starch synthesis is not inhibited by increasing concentrations of ADPGlc. In contrast, the rate of ADPGlc-dependent starch synthesis is reduced by increasing concentrations of ATP necessary for Glc6P-dependent starch synthesis. The possible modes of inhibition of ADPGlc-dependent starch synthesis by ATP are discussed with respect to the stromal generation of AMP required for ADPGlc uptake.