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In 2005, the Brazilian Public Schools Math Olympics (OBMEP) was created by the Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada. Since then, around 18 million students from the sixth to the twelfth grades have taken part in the competition annually. In each year of the competition, 6500 medals are distributed to public school students. In the following year these students receive a scholarship to participate in a training program disseminated in 225 centers across the country. Perceiving that the greatest impact of OBMEP has occurred in schools engaged with the Olympics, in either the preparation of their students for the competition or the promotion of award ceremonies for students classified as eligible for the second stage, in 2014 OBMEP launched a teacher training program. This article reviews the various OBMEP programs, their objectives and their impacts, and analyzes the obstacles faced. It also discusses the gender gap observed in the Math Olympics. In Brazil, the STEM areas of study, namely the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics, attract fewer girls than boys. A similar phenomenon can be observed at the OBMEP. The performance of girls is inferior to that of boys. This distinction is accentuated with the age of the students and in the grades of students in the upper percentiles of the exam. [Author abstract]

Objective To assess the effectiveness of an integrated early child development intervention, combining stimulation and micronutrient supplementation and delivered on a large scale in Colombia, for children’s development, growth, and hemoglobin levels.Design Cluster randomized controlled trial, using a 2×2 factorial design, with municipalities assigned to one of four groups: psychosocial stimulation, micronutrient supplementation, combined intervention, or control.Setting 96 municipalities in Colombia, located across eight of its 32 departments.Participants 1420 children aged 12-24 months and their primary carers.Intervention Psychosocial stimulation (weekly home visits with play demonstrations), micronutrient sprinkles given daily, and both combined. All delivered by female community leaders for 18 months.Main outcome measures Cognitive, receptive and expressive language, and fine and gross motor scores on the Bayley scales of infant development-III; height, weight, and hemoglobin levels measured at the baseline and end of intervention.Results Stimulation improved cognitive scores (adjusted for age, sex, testers, and baseline levels of outcomes) by 0.26 of a standard deviation (P=0.002). Stimulation also increased receptive language by 0.22 of a standard deviation (P=0.032). Micronutrient supplementation had no significant effect on any outcome and there was no interaction between the interventions. No intervention affected height, weight, or hemoglobin levels.Conclusions Using the infrastructure of a national welfare program we implemented the integrated early child development intervention on a large scale and showed its potential for improving children’s cognitive development. We found no effect of supplementation on developmental or health outcomes. Moreover, supplementation did not interact with stimulation. The implementation model for delivering stimulation suggests that it may serve as a promising blueprint for future policy on early childhood development.Trial registration Current Controlled trials ISRCTN18991160.

This paper examined whether distinct life-course trajectories of psychological distress from adolescence to midlife were associated with poorer mental health outcomes during the pandemic. We present a secondary analysis of two nationally representative British birth cohorts, the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) and 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). We used latent variable mixture models to identify pre-pandemic longitudinal trajectories of psychological distress and a modified Poisson model with robust standard errors to estimate associations with psychological distress, life satisfaction and loneliness at different points during the pandemic. Our analysis identified five distinct pre-pandemic trajectories of psychological distress in both cohorts. All trajectories with prior symptoms of psychological distress irrespective of age of onset, severity and chronicity were associated with a greater relative risk of poorer mental health outcomes during the pandemic and the probability of poorer mental health associated with psychological distress trajectories remained fairly constant. The relationship was not fully attenuated when most recent pre-pandemic psychological distress and other midlife factors were controlled for. Whilst life-course trajectories with any prior symptoms of psychological distress put individuals at greater risk of poor mental health outcomes during the pandemic, those with chronic and more recent occurrences were at highest risk. In addition, prior poor mental health during the adult life-course may mean individuals are less resilient to shocks, such as pandemics. Our findings show the importance of considering heterogeneous mental health trajectories across the life-course in the general population in addition to population average trends.

Objective: To assess longitudinal associations between screen-based media use (television (TV) and computer hours, having a TV in the bedroom) and body fatness among UK children. Methods: Participants were 12 556 children from the UK Millennium Cohort Study who were followed from age 7 to age 11 years. Associations were assessed between screen-based media use and the following outcomes: body mass index (BMI), fat mass index (FMI), and overweight. Results: In fully adjusted models, having a bedroom TV at age 7 years was associated with significantly higher BMI and FMI (excess BMI for boys=0.29, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.06–0.52; excess BMI for girls=0.57, 95% CI 0.31–0.84; excess FMI for boys=0.20, 95% CI 0.04–0.37; excess FMI for girls=0.39, 95% CI 0.21–0.57) and increased risk of being overweight (relative risk (RR) for boys=1.21, 95% CI 1.07–1.36; RR for girls=1.31, 95% CI 1.15–1.48) at age 11 years, compared with having no bedroom TV. Hours spent watching TV or digital versatile disks were associated with increased risk of overweight among girls only. Computer use at age 7 years was not related to later body fatness for either gender. Conclusion: Having a TV in the child’s bedroom was an independent risk factor for overweight and increased body fatness in this nationally representative sample of UK children. Childhood obesity prevention strategies should consider TVs in children’s bedrooms as a risk factor for obesity.

The orbital motion of the three spacecraft that make up the eLISA Observatory constellation causes long-arm line of sight variations of approximately ± one degree over the course of a year. The baseline solution is to package the telescope, the optical bench, and the gravitational reference sensor (GRS) into an optical assembly at each end of the measurement arm, and then to articulate the assembly. An optical phase reference is exchanged between the moving optical benches with a single mode optical fiber (\"backlink\" fiber). An alternative solution, referred to as in-field pointing, embeds a steering mirror into the optical design, fixing the optical benches and eliminating the backlink fiber, but requiring the additional complication of a two-stage optical design for the telescope. We examine the impact of an in-field pointing design on the scattered light performance.

Mitochondrial 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl‐CoA (HMG Co‐A) synthase (mHS) deficiency is an autosomal recessive disorder of ketone body synthesis which has traditionally been associated with hypoketotic hypoglycemia, hepatomegaly and encephalopathy, presenting in early childhood following a period of fasting. We report the third case of mHS deficiency presenting in the absence of hypoglycemia, with profound biochemical abnormalities and further evidence of potential specific diagnostic biomarkers. A previously well, 20‐month old, unvaccinated male, of nonconsanguineous Polish heritage, presented with encephalopathy, hepatomegaly, severe metabolic acidosis, and mild hyperammonemia following a brief intercurrent illness. The patient was reported to have taken colloidal silver prior to presentation, posing a further diagnostic challenge. Additionally, he developed features suggestive of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis during treatment. While the patient was normoglycemic prior to dextrose administration, the sample was markedly lipemic, with significant hypertriglyceridemia detected. Urine organic acid analysis revealed dicarboxylic aciduria with 4‐hydroxy‐6‐methyl‐2‐pyrone (4HMP) and the presence of three other previously reported putative biomarkers for mHS deficiency. Glutarate was markedly elevated in the initial chromatogram, with a mild increase in 3‐hydroxyglutarate (3HG) persisting. Raised acetylcarnitine was detected on acylcarnitine profile. Molecular genetic analysis of the HMGCS2 gene identified compound heterozygosity for known pathogenic mutations c.634G>A and c.1016+1G>A, confirming the diagnosis of mHS deficiency. This case provides further evidence that hypoglycemia is not invariably present in symptomatic mHS deficiency. We propose that elevated acetylcarnitine, triglycerides, and 3HG are additional biochemical features during acute presentations. With the expansion of novel biomarkers, further cases of this rare disorder may emerge.

IntroductionSlush ice drinks are commonly available refreshments, aimed at children and young people. Glycerol is used to maintain the slush effect in the absence of a high sugar content.ObjectiveTo describe a series of children who became acutely unwell shortly after consuming a slush ice drink; their presentation mimics specific inherited metabolic diseases (IMDs).MethodsA retrospective case review of 21 children who presented to centres across the UK and Ireland from 2009 through 2024 was carried out.ResultsAlmost all of the children (93%) became unwell within 60 min of slush ice drink consumption. None had any relevant past medical history. The median age at presentation was 3 years 6 months (range 2 years – 6 years 9 months). Presenting features include acute decrease in consciousness (94%), hypoglycaemia (95%), metabolic (lactic) acidosis (94%), pseudohypertriglyceridaemia (89%) and hypokalaemia (75%). Glyceroluria was present in all acute urine organic acid samples. No underlying IMD was found in the 14 patients who underwent further enzymatic or genetic testing. The majority (95%) subsequently avoided slush ice drinks and did not have reoccurrence.ConclusionConsumption of slush ice drinks containing glycerol may cause a clinical syndrome of glycerol intoxication in young children, characterised by decreased consciousness, hypoglycaemia, lactic acidosis, pseudohypertriglyceridaemia and hypokalaemia. This mimics inherited disorders of gluconeogenesis and glycerol metabolism. Clinicians and parents should be alert to the phenomenon, and public health bodies should ensure clear messaging regarding the fact that younger children, especially those under 8 years of age, should avoid slush ice drinks containing glycerol.

Poor early childhood development (ECD) in low- and middle-income countries is a major concern. There are calls to universalise access to ECD interventions through integrating them into existing government services but little evidence on the medium- or long-term effects of such scalable models. We previously showed that a psychosocial stimulation (PS) intervention integrated into a cash transfer programme improved Colombian children's cognition, receptive language, and home stimulation. In this follow-up study, we assessed the medium-term impacts of the intervention, 2 years after it ended, on children's cognition, language, school readiness, executive function, and behaviour. Study participants were 1,419 children aged 12-24 months at baseline from beneficiary households of the cash transfer programme, living in 96 Colombian towns. The original cluster randomised controlled trial (2009-2011) randomly allocated the towns to control (N = 24, n = 349), PS (N = 24, n = 357), multiple micronutrient (MN) supplementation (N = 24, n = 354), and combined PS and MN (N = 24, n = 359). Interventions lasted 18 months. In this study (26 September 2013 to 11 January 2014), we assessed impacts on cognition, language, school readiness, executive function, and behaviour 2 years after intervention, at ages 4.5-5.5 years. Testers, but not participants, were blinded to treatment allocation. Analysis was on an intent-to-treat basis. We reassessed 88.5% of the children in the original study (n = 1,256). Factor analysis of test scores yielded 2 factors: cognitive (cognition, language, school readiness, executive function) and behavioural. We found no effect of the interventions after 2 years on the cognitive factor (PS: -0.031 SD, 95% CI -0.229-0.167; MN: -0.042 SD, 95% CI -0.249-0.164; PS and MN: -0.111 SD, 95% CI -0.311-0.089), the behavioural factor (PS: 0.013 SD, 95% CI -0.172-0.198; MN: 0.071 SD, 95% CI -0.115-0.258; PS and MN: 0.062 SD, 95% CI -0.115-0.239), or home stimulation. Study limitations include that behavioural development was measured through maternal report and that very small effects may have been missed, despite the large sample size. We found no evidence that a scalable PS intervention benefited children's development 2 years after it ended. It is possible that the initial effects on child development were too small to be sustained or that the lack of continued impact on home stimulation contributed to fade out. Both are likely related to compromises in implementation when going to scale and suggest one should not extrapolate from medium-term effects of small efficacy trials to scalable interventions. Understanding the salient differences between small efficacy trials and scaled-up versions will be key to making ECD interventions effective tools for policymakers. ISRCTN18991160.

In this article we discuss possible design options for the optical phase reference system, the so called backlink, between two moving optical benches in a LISA satellite. The candidates are based on two approaches: Fiber backlinks, with additional features like mode cleaning cavities and Faraday isolators, and free beam backlinks with angle compensation techniques. We will indicate dedicated ghost beam mitigation strategies for the design options and we will point out critical aspects in case of an implementation in LISA.

In the context of investigations for a sufficient attitude control thruster for LISA, we have developed a thruster test facility which consists of a highly precise thrust balance coupled with plasma diagnostics. In parallel to the test facility development, investigations to downscale a High Efficiency Multistage Plasma Thruster (HEMP-T) are also being carried out. The thruster has been used to demonstrate the measurement capabilities of the facility. The setup allows a parallel operation of all instruments and can also be used for other types of μN propulsion systems including cold gas thrusters. The thrust balance consists of two pendulums. As read out a heterodyne laser interferometer is used. Differential wave front sensing (DWS) enables the measurement of the pendulum tilt which, via suitable calibration using an electrostatic comb, can be converted to a thrust. The whole setup is a symmetric configuration enabling a common-mode rejection of the dominant noise sources (e.g. seismic noise etc.). The thrust balance has a demonstrated precision of 0.1 μN. Based on our unique design, this precision can be attained down to 10-3 Hz. Thus, the measurement setup is especially suitable for characterising the thrust noise of potential eLISA propulsion candidates. We give an overview of the design, the present performance and the future plans.