The Communication Trust

The project aims were to identify infectious mechanisms responsible for an extreme form of mandibular osteonecrosis and osteomyelitis in West African populations and test the hypothesis that Mycobacterium tuberculosis plays a pivotal role. DNA was extracted from mandibular fragments of 9 of 19 patients previously included in a prospective study leading to the mycobacterial hypothesis. Amplified DNAs were used for preparing libraries suitable for next-generation sequencing. For comparison of the whole-genome sequencing data of the 9 patients with DNAs of both microbiota and human tissues, DIAMOND v0.9.26 was used to align sequencing reads to NCBI-nr database and MEGAN 6 for taxonomy binning and identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. The data show that mandibular bone fragments of all 9 patients not only contain Homo sapiens and Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNAs; they also contain DNAs of Plasmodium ovale wallikeri, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus hominis, and Prevotella P3-120/intermedia; as well as large numbers of DNAs from other infectious components. The data obtained provide direct evidence to support the conclusion that combinations of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Plasmodium ovale wallikeri, and other oral bacteria are involved in this particular type of mandibular destruction in West African individuals of many ages.

Communication is a fundamental life skill and acts as the foundation on which many other areas of development are based. Any child who is not developing their speech, language and communication skills in the expected way is considered to have speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). These range from children with delayed speech and language development, whose difficulties will resolve with the correct intervention, to children with long term, persistent difficulties in one or more areas of their speech, language and communication development. Speech, language and communication is a skill central to other areas of development, meaning the impacts of SLCN can be significant. These impacts can be minimised by ensuring early identification and support for those children and young people who are presenting with SLCN.

We all know how important language is for children’s learning. In fact, sometimes it is so obvious that it can be overlooked, especially within a fast paced curriculum and busy school environment, with a lot of different demands and priorities. However, there are many children with language difficulties in our classrooms. Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) is the most common childhood disability, affecting over 1 million children and young people in the UK. In addition, we know from a range of information in research and practice, that upwards of 50 per cent of children start school with delayed speech and language in socially disadvantaged areas. These children may struggle to listen, to pay attention. They may have unclear speech, or difficulties understanding or using an age appropriate vocabulary. They may struggle to put together grammatical sentences when they talk, or have difficulties having conversations or socialising with their peers.

Over one million children in the UK are struggling with communication difficulties that may affect their learning, development and future life chances, which makes it imperative that we make a difference.