Exploring the preferences of traditional versus Western medicine in the Spiti Valley region of India: A qualitative approach.

Background: Traditional healing practices are prevalent in rural and mountainous areas of India where Western medicine is not accessible. WHO guidelines recommend integration of traditional and Western medicine to meet rural primary care needs. We explored three dimensions of rural patients' decision-making and satisfaction with their medical care: pregnancy-related concerns, pediatric care for children under five, and acute injuries. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using a phenomenological approach in India's Spiti Valley between August and October 2023. Sixteen individuals, age 18 years and older, participated in one-on-one interviews. The interviews were transcribed from Hindi into English, reviewed for accuracy by a native speaker, and imported into Dedoose software. Data were analyzed using inductive coding. Findings: Multiparous women aged 35-44 were concerned about pregnancy complications, leading them to choose Western medicine despite access and cost barriers. Pediatric illness requiring urgent care at night was a concern for women with children under five. Those in the injuries group reported having to travel for care beyond basic first aid. Overall, concerns were about limited access to some services locally, as well as costs of travel, medical procedures, and medications when services were obtained beyond the local area. Interpretation: All participants considered their traditional healer their first point of contact for medical care. A number of Western medical services were not available locally. These findings suggest a need to strengthen access to and integration of Western and traditional medical care in rural settings in India.

Modalities for teaching responsible and ethical conduct of research online: Lessons learned from an undergraduate workshop in Utah.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted scientific research, teaching, and learning in higher education and forced many institutions to explore new modalities in response to the abrupt shift to remote learning. Accordingly, many colleges and universities struggled to provide the training, technology, and best practices to support faculty and students, especially those at historically disadvantaged and underrepresented institutions. In this study we investigate different remote learning modalities to improve and enhance research education training for faculty and students. We specifically focus on Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) and research mentoring content to help address the newly established requirements of the National Science Foundation for investigators. To address this need we conducted a workshop to determine the effectiveness of three common research education modalities: Live Lecture, Podcast, and Reading. The Live Lecture sessions provided the most evidence of learning based on the comparison between pre- and post-test results, whereas the Podcast format was well received but produced a slight (and non-significant) decline in scores between the pre- and post-tests. The Reading format showed no significant improvement in learning. The results of our workshop illuminate the effectiveness and obstacles associated with various remote learning modalities, enabling us to pinpoint areas that require additional refinement and effort, including the addition of interactive media in Reading materials.

Childhood physical activity and pubertal timing: findings from the LEGACY girls study.

BACKGROUND: There is limited research on whether physical activity (PA) in early childhood is associated with the timing of pubertal events in girls. METHODS: We used data collected over 2011-16 from the LEGACY Girls Study (n = 984; primarily aged 6-13 years at study enrolment), a multicentre North American cohort enriched for girls with a breast cancer family history (BCFH), to evaluate if PA is associated with age at thelarche, pubarche and menarche. Maternal-reported questionnaire data measured puberty outcomes, PA in early childhood (ages 3-5 years) and total metabolic equivalents of organized PA in middle childhood (ages 7-9 years). We used interval-censored Weibull parametric survival regression models with age as the time scale and adjusted for sociodemographic factors, and we tested for effect modification by BCFH. We used inverse odds weighting to test for mediation by body mass index-for-age z-score (BMIZ) measured at study enrolment. RESULTS: Being highly active vs inactive in early childhood was associated with later thelarche in girls with a BCFH [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.26-0.59), but not in girls without a BCFH. In all girls, irrespective of BCFH, being in the highest vs lowest quartile of organized PA in middle childhood was associated with later menarche (aHR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.50-0.97). These associations remained after accounting for potential mediation by BMIZ. CONCLUSION: This study provides new data that PA in early childhood may be associated with later thelarche in girls with a BCFH, also further supporting an overall association between PA in middle childhood and later menarche.