The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to food security in many countries, including Kenya. However, the impact of this on food provision to children at an individual level is unknown. This ...small study aimed to provide a qualitative snapshot of the diets of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. During completion of 24-h food recalls, with 15 families with children aged 5–8 years, caregivers were asked about changes they had made to foods given to their children due to the pandemic. Food recalls were analysed to assess nutrient intakes. Qualitative comments were thematically analysed. Most of the families reported making some changes to foods they provided to their children due to COVID-19. Reasons for these changes fell into three themes, inability to access foods (both due to formal restriction of movements and fear of leaving the house), poorer availability of foods, and financial constraints (both decreases in income and increases in food prices). The COVID-19 pandemic has affected some foods parents in rural Kenya can provide to their children.
Using data from interviews with 198 highly religious Muslim, Christian, or Jewish families in the U.S., we investigated how religion informs sexual relationships, sexual practices, and sexual beliefs ...in family life. Guided by Marks' method (2015), a team-based coding approach, participants' comments about sexuality and sexual relationships were coded and organized into four themes that illuminated how religion and sexuality intersect among highly religious couples and families. Themes included (a) boundaries and rules around sex, (b) purpose of sex, (c) navigating culture and media, and (d) concerns regarding children. Implications for practitioners are discussed including understanding the most common ways sex and religion intersect in highly religious families, and the importance of asking clients to what degree their faith influences their sexual relationships, practices, and beliefs.
Highly religious families spoke about sexuality in five main ways: managing boundaries and rules around sex, purpose of sex, navigating culture and media, and concerns regarding children. When working with religious clients, clinicians can ask and understand, recognize religious dualities, and harness religious strengths.
Background
Religion and sex are both prominent elements of most people's lives. Most adults view both religion and sex as quite important in their lives. However, some research indicates that ...religion may negatively impact individuals’ perspectives on sex.
Purpose
We examined highly religious individuals’ spontaneous comments of the role of religion and sex in their lives and looked for themes in how sex and religion may be associated.
Methods
We conducted in-depth, qualitative interviews using a racially and ethnically diverse sample consisting of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish families comprised of 198 married heterosexual couples based on conjoint interviews with the husbands and wives. Couples were in long-term marriages (average 20 years) were interviewed together when most (93%) were in their 40s and 50s in 2001–2010. The topic of the nexus of religion and sexual relationships was not on the interview questionnaire but still surfaced in many of the interviews.
Results
We analyzed participants’ comments related to sex and found six themes that revealed these religious families’ perspectives on the purpose of sex, including: 1. The sanctity of sex; 2. The expression of sex is limited to marriage; 3. Sex strengthens the marriage; 4. Sex is for procreation; 5. Sex is just one component of a strong marriage; and 6. Religious beliefs can be damaging. Implications and applications are discussed.
Conclusions and Implications
This study also illustrates that how individuals, marriages, and families interpret and apply the teachings of their respective religion may have more to do with the influence of religion than their particular denomination or their religious attendance. Sexuality was viewed as a covenant, a higher purpose, a form of worship, or even a way to make God happy, but only within the bonds of marriage. Couples identified their sexual relationship with Godly characteristics and this provided a sense of power and sanctification. These findings may provide needed insight to religious couples about how and why sex and religion blend or create conflict.
We investigated the intersection of religion and boundaries placed around sex using qualitative data from 198 highly religious Muslim, Christian, and Jewish families. Coding performed by two ...researchers resulted in six core themes that provide insight into the connection between these two domains. Frequency counts of the core themes, participant quotes, and implications are presented—including the benefits of practitioners inquiring into how clients’ faith affects sexual behavior and scripts, how fidelity and vows might serve a protective function for the relationships of highly religious couples, and how religion may empower women in terms of sexual boundary setting.
Pain is common among older adults with dementia. There are nonpharmacological options for managing pain in this population. However, the effects of physical therapist-delivered interventions have not ...been summarized. The purpose of this systematic review was to summarize the literature on physical therapist-delivered interventions in randomized trials for reducing pain among older adults with dementia.
A systematic search of MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Web of Science was conducted for randomized trials of pain management in individuals 60 years or older with medically diagnosed dementia of any severity. Included studies addressed the effects of nonpharmacological physical therapist-delivered interventions on pain outcomes. Pain outcomes included patient or caregiver self-report, observational or interactive measures. Independent reviewers extracted relevant data and assessed methodological quality using the PEDro scale.
Three studies (total = 222 participants; mean age range = 82.2-84.0 years; 178 80.2% females) met inclusion criteria. PEDro scores ranged from 4 to 8/10. Interventions included passive movement and massage. Pain outcomes included the observational measures Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Limited Ability to Communicate (PACSLAC), Pain in Advanced Dementia (PAINAD), and Doloplus-2 Scale. Passive movement did not show better results when compared with no treatment, while massage showed pain-reducing effects in 1 study compared with no treatment.
The evidence supporting pain-reducing physical therapy interventions for patients with dementia is limited. There is a clear gap in knowledge related to evidence-based physical therapy for managing pain in this population. Future studies should examine active physical therapist-delivered interventions and utilize interactive pain measures.
Studies in animal models and in cultured cells have shown that fatty acids can induce alterations in the DNA methylation of specific genes. There have been no studies of the effects of fatty acid ...supplementation on the epigenetic regulation of genes in adult humans.
We investigated the effect of supplementing renal patients with 4 g daily of either n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) or olive oil (OO) for 8 weeks on the methylation status of individual CpG loci in the 5' regulatory region of genes involved in PUFA biosynthesis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from men and women (aged 53 to 63 years). OO and n-3 LCPUFA each altered (>10% difference in methylation) 2/22 fatty acid desaturase (FADS)-2 CpGs, while n-3 LCPUFA, but not OO, altered (>10%) 1/12 ELOVL5 CpGs in men. OO altered (>6%) 8/22 FADS2 CpGs and (>3%) 3/12 elongase (ELOVL)-5 CpGs, while n-3 LCPUFA altered (>5%) 3/22 FADS2 CpGs and 2/12 (>3%) ELOVL5 CpGs in women. FADS1 or ELOVL2 methylation was unchanged. The n-3 PUFA supplementation findings were replicated in blood DNA from healthy adults (aged 23 to 30 years). The methylation status of the altered CpGs in FADS2 and ELOVL5 was associated negatively with the level of their transcripts.
These findings show that modest fatty acid supplementation can induce altered methylation of specific CpG loci in adult humans, contingent on the nature of the supplement and on sex. This has implications for understanding the effect of fatty acids on PUFA metabolism and cell function.
Biotinylation of amines is widely used to conjugate biomolecules, but either the resulting label is non‐removable or its removal leaves a tag on the molecule of interest, thus affecting downstream ...processes. We present here a set of reagents (RevAmines) that allow traceless, reversible biotinylation under biologically compatible, mild conditions. Release following avidin‐based capture is achieved through the cleavage of a (2‐(alkylsulfonyl)ethyl) carbamate linker under mild conditions (200 mm ammonium bicarbonate, pH 8, 16–24 h, room temperature) that regenerates the unmodified amine. The capture and release of biotinylated proteins and peptides from neutravidin, fluorescent labelling through reversible biotinylation at the cell surface and the selective enrichment of proteins from bacterial periplasm are demonstrated. The tags are easily prepared, stable and offer the potential for future application in proteomics, activity‐based protein profiling, affinity chromatography and bio‐molecule tagging and purification.
Come undone: We demonstrate for the first time that it is possible to tracelessly regenerate biotin‐tagged biological amines (peptides and proteins) under extremely mild and biologically compatible conditions. These simple reagents offer new possibilities in the field of chemical biology, particularly in biorthogonal chemistry and proteomics.
Abstract Female humans and rodents have been shown to have higher 22:6n-3 status and synthesis than males. It is unclear which sex hormone is involved. We investigated the specificity of the effects ...of physiological concentrations of sex hormones in vitro on the mRNA expression of genes involved in polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) biosynthesis and on the conversion of d5 -18:3n-3 to longer chain fatty acids. Progesterone, but not 17α-ethynylestradiol or testosterone, increased FADS2, FADS1, ELOVl 5 and ELOVl 2 mRNA expression in HepG2 cells, but only FADS2 in primary human hepatocytes. In HepG2 cells, these changes were accompanied by hypomethylation of specific CpG loci in the FADS2 promoter. Progesterone, not 17α-ethynylestradiol or testosterone, increased conversion of d5 -18:3n-3 to 20:5n-3, 22:5n-3 and 22:6n-3. These findings show that progesterone increases n-3 PUFA biosynthesis by up-regulating the mRNA expression of genes involved in this pathway, possibly via changes in the epigenetic regulation of FADS2.
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