'I thought we would be nourished here': The complexity of nutrition/food and its relationship to mental health among Arab immigrants/refugees in Canada: The CAN-HEAL study.

Nutritional psychiatry suggests that diet quality impacts one's mental health (MH). The relationship between food/nutrition and MH may be particularly salient for immigrants/refugees who often experience high risk for household food insecurity and MH challenges. An innovative collaborative community-based participatory research and integrated knowledge translation approach was adopted to explore food/nutrition needs as they relate to MH among Arab immigrants/refuges (AIR) in Ontario, Canada. The goal was to co-identify areas that require social change and co-produce applicable knowledge for service improvement. The CAN-HEAL study used a multi-methodological approach, employing qualitative interviews, photovoice and a questionnaire survey. A combination of three sampling approaches (convenience, snowball and purposive) was used to recruit sixty socio-demographically-diverse adult AIR participants. The research was guided by an integrated bio-psycho-socio-cultural framework. Participants reported various socio-economic and structural barriers to nutritious eating. Food quality/safety was a significant concern and source of anxiety among AIR; food mislabeling, the widespread presence of genetically/chemically modified foods and expired/rotten food products were associated with negative MH. Participants experienced an alarming prevalence of food insecurity (65%), which was associated with negative MH. Intersections among age, gender, religion, socio-economic status, parenthood, disability, and place of residence played a considerable role in how nutrition, food security, and dietary intake impacted AIR's MH and caused substantial disparities within the AIR community. The food/nutrition-MH relationship among AIR is multi-faceted, and various psycho-socio-cultural pathways/processes were found to shape MH. Intersectoral collaboration between health and non-health sectors is needed to implement a co-proposed socio-political and community-level action plan to achieve nutrition and health equity for AIR and other similar marginalized groups.

Association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in heat stress protein 70 (HSP70) and 90 (HSP90) with the susceptibility of Pakistani sheep breeds to hemoparasitic infections.

The present study was designed to report the genotypic and allelic frequency of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at 222 G > A in HSP70 and at ex6-7390T22G in the HSP90 gene of 204 sheep (Baluchi = 11, Kajli = 29, Latti = 06 and Mundri = 158) enrolled from District Rajanpur in Punjab and to report the susceptibility of these sheep to the blood-borne parasitic infection. The tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (T-ARMS-PCR) approach revealed a significant variation (p < 0.001) in the genotype frequency of four enrolled sheep breeds at SNP 222 G > A in the HSP70 gene while the allelic frequency remained unaffected (p = 0.08). In all sheep breeds, GG (wild) genotype was most common. T-ARMS-PCR analysis revealed a similar trend for ex6-7390T22G in the HSP90 gene and it was observed that sheep had significantly higher wild-type (GG) (p < 0.05) at the studied SNPs. Studied epidemiological factors (sex and sampling sites) were not found associated with both SNPs. Chi-square test revealed that no specific genotype and allelic frequency at 222 G > A in HSP70 and at ex6-7390T22G in the HSP90 gene of the enrolled sheep breed was associated with the susceptibility to blood-borne parasitic infection (p > 0.05). In conclusion, we are reporting that Pakistan is blessed to have majority of sheep, from all breeds, having wild genotype at analyzed SNPs in heat stress genes. We highly recommend the genotypic screening of sheep before their selection as breeders to reduce the possibility of having sheep with polymorphic genotypes at 222 G > A in HSP70 and at 7390T22G in HSP90 genes that will improve the profitability and sustainability of animal production systems in Pakistan.