Cash Transfer Programs for Child Health-Elucidating Pathways and Optimizing Program Design.

This Viewpoint describes how nondirected cash transfer programs influence the dynamics of child poverty, highlights pathways by which poverty reduction programs could improve child health, and provides suggested directions for future research and policy.

Low energy availability surrogates correlate with health and performance consequences of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport.

Low energy availability (EA) is suspected to be the underlying cause of both the Female Athlete Triad and the more recently defined syndrome, Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). The International Olympic Committee (IOC) defined RED-S as a syndrome of health and performance impairments resulting from an energy deficit. While the importance of adequate EA is generally accepted, few studies have attempted to understand whether low EA is associated with the health and performance consequences posited by the IOC. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the association of low EA with RED-S health and performance consequences in a large clinical population of female athletes. METHODS: One thousand female athletes (15-30 years) completed an online questionnaire and were classified as having low or adequate EA. The associations between low EA and the health and performance factors listed in the RED-S models were evaluated using chi-squared test and the odds ratios were evaluated using binomial logistic regression (p<0.05). RESULTS: Athletes with low EA were more likely to be classified as having increased risk of menstrual dysfunction, poor bone health, metabolic issues, haematological detriments, psychological disorders, cardiovascular impairment and gastrointestinal dysfunction than those with adequate EA. Performance variables associated with low EA included decreased training response, impaired judgement, decreased coordination, decreased concentration, irritability, depression and decreased endurance performance. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that low EA measured using self-report questionnaires is strongly associated with many health and performance consequences proposed by the RED-S models.

Structure of prokaryotic polyamine deacetylase reveals evolutionary functional relationships with eukaryotic histone deacetylases.

Polyamines are a ubiquitous class of polycationic small molecules that can influence gene expression by binding to nucleic acids. Reversible polyamine acetylation regulates nucleic acid binding and is required for normal cell cycle progression and proliferation. Here, we report the structures of Mycoplana ramosa acetylpolyamine amidohydrolase (APAH) complexed with a transition state analogue and a hydroxamate inhibitor and an inactive mutant complexed with two acetylpolyamine substrates. The structure of APAH is the first of a histone deacetylase-like oligomer and reveals that an 18-residue insert in the L2 loop promotes dimerization and the formation of an 18 Å long "L"-shaped active site tunnel at the dimer interface, accessible only to narrow and flexible substrates. The importance of dimerization for polyamine deacetylase function leads to the suggestion that a comparable dimeric or double-domain histone deacetylase could catalyze polyamine deacetylation reactions in eukaryotes.