Youth Savings Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal: YouthSave Research Report 2015

If offered an opportunity to save via formal financial services, will youth in developing countries participate, save, and accumulate assets? This is one of the key questions in YouthSave, a savings initiative implemented in four developing countries, targeting youth aged 12 to 18 years, from predominantly low-income households. This report presents two-year findings from a study that tracks account uptake and saving patterns and performance in youth savings accounts in four countries: Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal. This savings demand assessment (SDA) is ambitious in its attempt to include systematic data on as many youth savers as possible. The result is a very large dataset that enables us to report in detail who is saving, and factors associated with saving patterns and performance. The report is divided into four sections: the ten key findings; the project summary; the body, which consists of Chapters 1 through 9 and summarizes information across all four countries; and the appendices, which include country-specific details and summary tables. A summary of findings appears at the end of each chapter

Identification and Structural Characterization of a New Three-Finger Toxin Hemachatoxin from Hemachatus haemachatus Venom

10.1371/journal.pone.0048112PLoS ONE710

Structural Basis for the Secretion of EvpC: A Key Type VI Secretion System Protein from Edwardsiella tarda

The recently identified type VI secretion system (T6SS) is implicated in the virulence of many Gram-negative bacteria. Edwardsiella tarda is an important cause of hemorrhagic septicemia in fish and also gastro- and extra-intestinal infections in humans. The E. tarda virulent protein (EVP) gene cluster encodes a conserved T6SS which contains 16 open reading frames. EvpC is one of the three major EVP secreted proteins and shares high sequence similarity with Hcp1, a key T6SS virulence factor from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. EvpC contributes to the virulence of E. tarda by playing an essential role in functional T6SS. Here, we report the crystal structure of EvpC from E. tarda PPD130/91 at a 2.8 Å resolution, along with functional studies of the protein. EvpC has a β-barrel domain with extended loops. The β-barrel consists of 11 anti-parallel β-strands with an α-helix located on one side. In solution, EvpC exists as a dimer at low concentration and as a hexamer at higher concentration. In the crystal, the symmetry related EvpC molecules form hexameric rings which stack together to form a tube similar to Hcp1. Structure based mutagenesis revealed that N-terminal negatively charged residues, Asp4, Glu15 and Glu26, and C-terminal positively charged residues, Lys161, Lys162 and Lys163, played crucial roles in the secretion of EvpC. Moreover, the localization study indicates the presence of wild type EvpC in cytoplasm, periplasm and secreted fractions, whereas the N-terminal and C-terminal mutants were found mostly in the periplasmic region and was completely absent in the secreted fraction. Results reported here provide insight into the structure, assembly and function of EvpC. Further, these findings can be extended to other EvpC homologs for understanding the mechanism of T6SS and targeting T6SS mediated virulence in Gram-negative pathogens

Are Internal Fragments Observable in Electron Based Top-Down Mass Spectrometry?

Protein tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) often generates sequence-informative fragments from backbone bond cleavages near the termini. This lack of fragmentation in the protein interior is particularly apparent in native top-down mass spectrometry (MS). Improved sequence coverage, critical for reliable annotation of posttranslational modifications and sequence variants, may be obtained from internal fragments generated by multiple backbone cleavage events. However, internal fragment assignments can be error prone due to isomeric/isobaric fragments from different parts of a protein sequence. Also, internal fragment generation propensity depends on the chosen MS/MS activation strategy. Here, we examine internal fragment formation in electron capture dissociation (ECD) and electron transfer dissociation (ETD) following native and denaturing MS, as well as LC/MS of several proteins. Experiments were undertaken on multiple instruments, including quadrupole time-of-flight, Orbitrap, and high-field Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) across four laboratories. ECD was performed at both ultrahigh vacuum and at similar pressure to ETD conditions. Two complementary software packages were used for data analysis. When feasible, ETD-higher energy collision dissociation MS3 was performed to validate/refute potential internal fragment assignments, including differentiating MS3 fragmentation behavior of radical versus even-electron primary fragments. We show that, under typical operating conditions, internal fragments cannot be confidently assigned in ECD or ETD. On the other hand, such fragments, along with some b-type terminal fragments (not typically observed in ECD/ETD spectra) appear at atypical ECD operating conditions, suggesting they originate from a separate ion-electron activation process. Furthermore, atypical fragment ion types, e.g., x ions, are observed at such conditions as well as upon EThcD, presumably due to vibrational activation of radical z-type ions

Youth Savings Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal

Youth Savings Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepa

Youth Savings Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal

Youth Savings Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepa

Youth Savings Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal: Executive Summary

This summary presents an overview of findings from the YouthSave Project\u27s 2015 research report Youth Savings Patterns and Performance in Columbia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal. Created in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation, YouthSave investigated the potential of savings accounts as a tool for youth development and financial inclusion in developing countries by co-designing tailored, sustainable savings products with local financial institutions and assessing their performance and development outcomes with local researchers. This study tracked account uptake, saving patterns, and savings performance in youth savings accounts in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal

Savings Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal

Savings Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepa

Youth Saving Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal: Key Findings

If provided an opportunity to save via formal financial services, do youth in developing countries participate, save, and accumulate assets? This was one of the key questions asked in YouthSave. Savings accounts were created in four developing countries, targeting youth aged 12 to 18 years from predominantly low-income households. This brief highlights research findings on account uptake and savings from the Savings Demand Assessment (SDA)

Youth Savings Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal

Youth Savings Patterns and Performance in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepa