Why do young people engage in dating relationships during early adolescence? An inter-generational qualitative analysis from Blantyre, Malawi.

Engagement in dating relationships plays an important role in the health trajectories of young people, particularly during the early adolescent period between ages 10-14. Yet little is known about such relationships among youth in low resource contexts. This study sought to contribute to the literature on this topic by exploring reasons why school-going young people aged 12-14 years engage in dating relationships in Blantyre, Malawi. A thematic analysis was used to code and analyse in-depth interview data from 23 young people and 19 caregivers. Against the backdrop of growing sexual desires and feelings of attraction, participants stressed harassment from boys and coercion from older men, peer pressure, social status attainment, financial deprivation and encouragement during initiation ceremonies as reasons for engaging in dating relationships. Girls were found to be subject to multiple power dynamics-including gender power relations, as well as power dynamics within same-gender peer groups-that influenced their sex and relationship involvement. These findings carry implications for the design and timing of sexual and reproductive health youth programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa and emphasise the need for multi-level interventions to address the multiple influences in young people's dating lives.

An exploratory study of factors associated with social isolation and loneliness in a community sample.

Individuals across a wide variety of demographies find themselves suffering from social isolation or loneliness. Both of these conditions have been associated with a variety of negative outcomes including poor physical, mental and social health. Based on data collected from a sample of 420 individuals from a community in the South Western US, this research reports on conditions associated with social isolation and loneliness. Results of regression analysis indicate sex, stress, loneliness, community health and social cohesion were statistically significantly associated with social isolation. Living alone, depression/anxiety, stress and social isolation were statistically significantly associated with loneliness. The implications of these findings for social work practice and research is discussed.

Diabetes, Depression, and Cognition: a Recursive Cycle of Cognitive Dysfunction and Glycemic Dysregulation.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The study aims to examine the effects of diabetes and depression on executive functioning (EF) and to review the effects of EF deficits on diabetes management. RECENT FINDINGS: Both type 2 diabetes and depression influence EF, and in turn, EF has an impact on diabetes management. Individuals with both comorbidities (i.e., diabetes and depression) experience greater deficits in EF than individuals with just one of the morbidities (i.e., depression or diabetes). The disruption in EF results in poor diabetes management and poor emotion regulation which ultimately increases the probability of a recursive cycle of depression and hyperglycemia. This recursive cycle can ultimately lead to diabetes-related complications.

Associations Among Depressive Symptoms, Wellness, Patient Involvement, Provider Cultural Competency, and Treatment Nonadherence: A Pilot Study Among Community Patients Seen at a University Medical Center.

Treatment nonadherence is a pernicious problem associated with increasing rates of chronic diseases, escalating healthcare costs, and rising mortality in some patients. Although researchers have suggested numerous factors related to treatment nonadherence, several understudied aspects warrant attention, such as primary-care settings, provider cultural competence, and patient involvement. Adding to the research base, the present pilot study examined 88 primarily Black American and White American community patients from a large university medical center in the southern part of the United States. The study explored two research questions: (a) To what extent are there associations among depressive symptoms, wellness, patient involvement, cultural competency, and treatment nonadherence in a racially diverse community patient population? And (b) to what extent do the study exploratory variables and background characteristics predict treatment nonadherence, both separately and jointly? Depressive symptoms, the patient's perception of a provider's cultural competence, and marital/partnered status were found to be statistically significantly associated with treatment nonadherence, but not entirely in the directions expected.

Aligned human microvessels formed in 3D fibrin gel by constraint of gel contraction.

This study aimed to form microvessels in fibrin gels, which is of interest both for studying the fundamental cell-matrix interactions as well as for tissue engineering purposes, and to align the microvessels, which would provide natural inlet and outlet sides for perfusion. The data reported here demonstrate the formation of highly interconnected microvessels in fibrin gel under defined medium conditions and the ability to align them using two methods, both of which involved anchoring the gel at both ends to constrain the cell-induced compaction. The first method used only defined medium and resulted in moderate alignment. The second method used defined and serum-containing media sequentially to achieve high levels of microvessel alignment.

Developing an index of adolescent deprivation for use in British Columbia, Canada.

A population-level adolescent health survey has been a reliable source of information about the health and well-being of 12-19-year-olds in Western Canada since its introduction in 1992. However, the survey has never accurately measured child poverty, partially due to the complex social and geographical make-up of the region. The current study sought to adapt a model for developing a child-centric index of material deprivation which had been successfully used in the UK. To develop the BC Youth Deprivation Index, 25 focus groups, including three youth-led groups, were held with 300 adolescents aged 12-19 in urban, semi-urban, rural, and remote communities in each of the province's five regions (North, Interior, Fraser, Vancouver Coastal, and Island). Participants in the focus groups created a 10-item index of the material items adolescents felt they needed in order to belong. The draft index was piloted with 297 BC adolescents aged 12-19. The index demonstrated good internal reliability and was correlated with measures of food insecurity and subjective well-being. The finalised index was completed by over 38,000 adolescents, and is available to policy makers and practitioners. The study outcomes support the value of meaningfully engaging young people in the process of measurement development.

Wellness in Nursing Education to Promote Resilience and Reduce Burnout: Protocol for a Holistic Multidimensional Wellness Intervention and Longitudinal Research Study Design in Nursing Education.

BACKGROUND: The United States faces a nursing shortage driven by a burnout epidemic among nurses and nursing students. Nursing students are an integral population to fuel the nursing workforce at high risk of burnout and increased rates of perceived stress. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to describe WellNurse, a holistic, interdisciplinary, multidimensional longitudinal research study that examines evidence-based interventions intended to reduce burnout and increase resilience among graduate and undergraduate nursing students. METHODS: Graduate and undergraduate nursing students matriculated at a large public university in the northeastern United States are eligible to enroll in this ongoing, longitudinal cohort study beginning in March 2021. Participants complete a battery of health measurements twice each semester during the fourth week and the week before final examinations. The measures include the Perceived Stress Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, the Brief Resilience Scale, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Participants are eligible to enroll in a variety of interventions, including mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindful eating, fitness training, and massage therapy. Those who enroll in specific, targeted interventions complete additional measures designed to target the aim of the intervention. All participants receive a free Fitbit device. Additional environmental changes are being implemented to further promote a culture that supports academic well-being, including recruiting a diverse student population through evidence-based holistic admissions, inclusive teaching design, targeted resilience and stress reduction workshops, and cultural shifts within classrooms and curricula. The study design protocol is registered at Open Science Framework (DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/NCBPE). RESULTS: The project was funded on January 1, 2022. Data collection started in March 2022. A total of 267 participants have been recruited. Results will be published after each semester starting in December 2023. WellNurse evaluation follows the Rapid Cycle Quality Improvement framework to continuously monitor ongoing project processes, activity outcomes, and progress toward reducing burnout and increasing resilience. Rapid Cycle Quality Improvement promotes the ability to alter WellNurse interventions, examine multiple interventions, and test their effectiveness among the nursing education population to identify the most effective interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Academic nursing organizations must address student burnout risk and increase resilience to produce a future workforce that provides high-quality patient care to a diverse population. Findings from WellNurse will support evidence-based implementations for public baccalaureate and master's nursing programs in the United States. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/49020.

Diversity-stability relationships across organism groups and ecosystem types become decoupled across spatial scales.

The relationship between biodiversity and stability, or its inverse, temporal variability, is multidimensional and complex. Temporal variability in aggregate properties, like total biomass or abundance, is typically lower in communities with higher species diversity (i.e., the diversity-stability relationship [DSR]). At broader spatial extents, regional-scale aggregate variability is also lower with higher regional diversity (in plant systems) and with lower spatial synchrony. However, focusing exclusively on aggregate properties of communities may overlook potentially destabilizing compositional shifts. It is not yet clear how diversity is related to different components of variability across spatial scales, nor whether regional DSRs emerge across a broad range of organisms and ecosystem types. To test these questions, we compiled a large collection of long-term metacommunity data spanning a wide range of taxonomic groups (e.g., birds, fish, plants, invertebrates) and ecosystem types (e.g., deserts, forests, oceans). We applied a newly developed quantitative framework for jointly analyzing aggregate and compositional variability across scales. We quantified DSRs for composition and aggregate variability in local communities and metacommunities. At the local scale, more diverse communities were less variable, but this effect was stronger for aggregate than compositional properties. We found no stabilizing effect of γ-diversity on metacommunity variability, but ß-diversity played a strong role in reducing compositional spatial synchrony, which reduced regional variability. Spatial synchrony differed among taxa, suggesting differences in stabilization by spatial processes. However, metacommunity variability was more strongly driven by local variability than by spatial synchrony. Across a broader range of taxa, our results suggest that high γ-diversity does not consistently stabilize aggregate properties at regional scales without sufficient spatial ß-diversity to reduce spatial synchrony.

A collective impact approach to supporting youth transitioning out of government care.

BACKGROUND: The issues faced by young people transitioning out of government care are complex, and improving outcomes requires the collaboration of multiple stakeholders (Lopez & Allen, 2007). OBJECTIVE, PARTICIPANTS, AND SETTING: In Vancouver, Western Canada, 60 agencies and 20 youth from government care are working in partnership using a collective impact approach to address the systemic issues and barriers to healthy development that youth from care experience. Collective impact is an approach to tackling complex social problems which requires collaboration across government, business, funders, charitable organizations, and community members to achieve significant and lasting social change (Hanleybrown et al., 2012). The Vancouver collective operates working groups (co-chaired by youth with care experience) that are addressing challenges in the areas of education, employment, housing, meaningful connections (e.g., sustainable family-type supports), health, wellness and culture. METHODS: A mixed-method evaluation has included quantitative and qualitative data, collected through outcomes, diaries, surveys, and focus groups, to measure process and outcomes. RESULTS: Findings help to inform the ongoing development and activities of the collective. Findings indicate the collective is making progress in meeting its goals. Partners continue to be engaged and committed to improving outcomes for youth transitioning out of care, and there are improvements in a number of key areas such as education, collaborative working, and youth engagement. CONCLUSION: A collective impact approach that includes youth's voices, and collaboration across multiple stakeholders, can increase the likelihood of improving outcomes for young people transitioning out of government care.

Challenging the Stereotypes: Unexpected Features of Sexual Exploitation among Homeless and Street-Involved Boys in Western Canada.

Research about the sexual exploitation of homeless and street-involved boys is limited and often combined with that of girls. As aggregation can distort unique issues among genders which are exploited, this study provides information about the context of exploitation for homeless boys. Boys participated in the anonymous, multi-city British Columbia (BC), Canada Homeless and Street-Involved Youth Health paper surveys of 2006 and 2014. Measures included questions about trading sex for money, shelter, or other consideration; age first exploited; for whom; where they were living when first traded sex; gender of exploiters; and demographics. Analyses, separately for younger/older boys, explored the prevalence, timing of exploitation vs. homelessness, and ANOVAs to evaluate the patterns of the age of first exploitation by the genders of exploiters. Just over one in four boys reported exploitation (n = 132), with a median age of 14-15 in most groups. Most were runaway or homeless before their first exploitation, but 25.5% (2006) and 41% (2014) were living with family. Most boys were exploited by women (78%-85%), with 62%-65% were exclusively exploited by women.

The geodiv r package: Tools for calculating gradient surface metrics.

The geodiv r package calculates gradient surface metrics from imagery and other gridded datasets to provide continuous measures of landscape heterogeneity for landscape pattern analysis. geodiv is the first open-source, command line toolbox for calculating many gradient surface metrics and easily integrates parallel computing for applications with large images or rasters (e.g. remotely sensed data). All functions may be applied either globally to derive a single metric for an entire image or locally to create a texture image over moving windows of a user-defined extent.We present a comprehensive description of the functions available through geodiv. A supplemental vignette provides an example application of geodiv to the fields of landscape ecology and biogeography. geodiv allows users to easily retrieve estimates of spatial heterogeneity for a variety of purposes, enhancing our understanding of how environmental structure influences ecosystem processes. The package works with any continuous imagery and may be widely applied in many fields where estimates of surface complexity are useful.

National Monitoring for Menstrual Health and Hygiene: Is the Type of Menstrual Material Used Indicative of Needs Across 10 Countries?

Surveys monitoring population health and sanitation are increasingly seeking to monitor menstrual health. In the absence of established indicators, these surveys have most often collected data on the type of menstrual material used. This study investigated whether such data provides a useful indication of women's menstrual material needs being met. Using data from 12 national or state representative surveys from the Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 program, we compared self-reported menstrual material use against respondents' reported menstrual material needs (including needing clean materials, money, or access to a vendor). The use of menstrual pads did not indicate that menstrual material needs were met for many respondents. Of those exclusively using pads, a pooled 26.4% (95% Confidence Interval 17.1-38.5) of respondents reported that they had unmet material needs. More disadvantaged groups were particularly misrepresented; of rural women exclusively using pads, a pooled 38.5% (95%CI 27.3-51.1) reported unmet material needs, compared to 17.1% (95%CI 12.4-23.0) of urban women. Similar disparities were observed for levels of education and wealth, with a pooled 45.9% (95%CI 29.2-63.6) of women in the lowest wealth quintile reporting unmet material needs. Findings suggest that caution is needed when using menstrual material use as an indicator for menstrual health.

Contractile forces in platelet aggregates under microfluidic shear gradients reflect platelet inhibition and bleeding risk.

Platelets contract forcefully after their activation, contributing to the strength and stability of platelet aggregates and fibrin clots during blood coagulation. Viscoelastic approaches can be used to assess platelet-induced clot strengthening, but they require thrombin and fibrin generation and are unable to measure platelet forces directly. Here, we report a rapid, microfluidic approach for measuring the contractile force of platelet aggregates for the detection of platelet dysfunction. We find that platelet forces are significantly reduced when blood samples are treated with inhibitors of myosin, GPIb-IX-V, integrin αIIbß3, P2Y12, or thromboxane generation. Clinically, we find that platelet forces are measurably lower in cardiology patients taking aspirin. We also find that measuring platelet forces can identify Emergency Department trauma patients who subsequently require blood transfusions. Together, these findings indicate that microfluidic quantification of platelet forces may be a rapid and useful approach for monitoring both antiplatelet therapy and traumatic bleeding risk.

Are we leveling the playing field? Trends and disparities in sports participation among sexual minority youth in Canada.

PURPOSE: Sports participation and physical fitness are widely beneficial for young people, yet activity levels among young people are declining. Despite growing popular media attention on the participation of sexual minority (e.g., lesbian, gay, and bisexual) youth in sports and various campaigns to improve the often homophobic climate of sports, there is limited evidence that sexual minority youth participate in sports. Our aim was to provide a current portrait of sports participation among 3 groups of sexual minority youth (e.g., lesbian, gay, and bisexual) in British Columbia, Canada, as well as to document population trends. METHODS: Pooled population-level data from British Columbia, Canada (n = 99,373) were used to examine trends and disparities in sports participation among sexual minority and heterosexual youth. Age-adjusted logistic regression models were used to examine changes in participation over time and disparities in participation over time (1998-2013). RESULTS: We found an overall decline in sports participation and physical activity (PA) for all youth. Sexual minority students were less likely to participate in formal sports (with a coach) and informal sports (without a coach) compared with their heterosexual peers. The disparity in participating in informal sports between heterosexual and sexual minority youth has narrowed over time for some sexual orientation groups, whereas the disparity in participating in formal sports has widened over time in some cases. CONCLUSION: This study provides a comprehensive examination of sports participation among sexual minority youth over the past 15 years. Despite changing societal attitudes and laudable efforts to reduce homophobia in sports, results suggest that there are continued barriers to participation for sexual minority youth. Further research is needed to understand the factors that limit sports participation for these youth and to inform program development. PA is critical to lifelong health and well-being, and thus continued efforts are needed to increase the sports participation of sexual minority youth in particular.

Greenbottle (Lucilia sericata) larval secretions delivered from a prototype hydrogel wound dressing accelerate the closure of model wounds.

The resurgence of larval biotherapy as a debridement tool in wound management has been accompanied by several clinical reports highlighting concomitant tissue regeneration. Studies employing in vitro cell motility assays have found that purified excretory/secretory (ES) products from Greenbottle larvae (blowfly, Lucilia sericata) are motogenic for human dermal fibroblasts when used as a supplement in culture media. The objective of the present study was to determine whether ES delivered using a prototype hydrogel wound dressing induced similar motogenic effects on fibroblastic (3T3) and epithelial cells (HaCaTs) comprising a scratched-monolayer wound model. Quantitative analysis by MTT assay failed to detect significant mitogenic effects of ES on either cell type. Quantitative image analysis revealed that ES exposure markedly accelerated wound closure through a motogenic effect on both fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Quantitative histochemical analysis detected significantly higher phosphotyrosine (pTyr) expression in ES-exposed cell cultures than in controls; moreover immunocytochemistry revealed conspicuously raised levels of pTyr expression in cells located at the wound margin. By attenuation with a panel of enzyme inhibitors these effects were attributed to the protease components of ES. The present results suggest that controlled delivery of ES as a follow-up to maggot debridement therapy may be an effective therapeutic option for stimulation of tissue regeneration in wound management.

Poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel as a biocompatible viscoelastic mimetic for articular cartilage.

The prevalence of suboptimal outcome for surgical interventions in the treatment of full-thickness articular cartilage damage suggests that there is scope for a materials-based strategy to deliver a more durable repair. Given that the superficial layer of articular cartilage creates and sustains the tribological function of synovial joints, it is logical that candidate materials should have surface viscoelastic properties that mimic native articular cartilage. The present paper describes force spectroscopy analysis by nano-indentation to measure the elastic modulus of the surface of a novel poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel with therapeutic potential as a joint implant. More than 1 order of magnitude decrease in the elastic modulus was detected after adsorption of a hyaluronic acid layer onto the hydrogel, bringing it very close to previously reported values for articular cartilage. Covalent derivatization of the hydrogel surface with fibronectin facilitated the adhesion and growth of cultured rat tibial condyle chondrocytes as evidenced morphologically and by the observance of metachromatic staining with toluidine blue dye. The present results indicate that hydrogel materials with potential therapeutic benefit for injured and diseased joints can be engineered with surfaces with biomechanical properties similar to those of native tissue and are accepted as such by their constituent cell type.

Microengineered surface topography facilitates cell grafting from a prototype hydrogel wound dressing with antibacterial capability.

Skin wounds derive therapeutic benefit from redeployment of dermal tissues, whether as split-thickness allo- and autografts or as biological dressings comprising cultured cells. However, the clinical outcome is strongly influenced by the techniques used for cell/tissue grafting and also the microbiological status of the wound. Here we report that microtopography incorporated into the surface of a novel polymeric material, derivatized with fibronectin to promote attachment and encourage motility, improved the efficiency of cell transfer onto de-epithelialized human skin ex vivo. The microtopography had two functions, first as a conduit for migrating cells to cross between the vehicle and recipient surface and second to shield adherent cells from destruction by mechanical shearing during handling and application. Quantitative analysis showed that topographic projections (columns) rather than recesses (pits) in the hydrogel surface achieved the highest efficiency of cell transfer. In order to address the crucial relevance of microbiological contamination to the success of wound grafting, the effect of iodine on several common bacterial pathogens was examined using an XTT+C(Q10) kinetic cell viability assay. Increasing concentrations of iodine initially stressed and after 0.5% v/v were subsequently bacteriocidal for Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Bacillus subtillis and Staphylococcus aureus. Slightly higher doses of iodine (approx 1-1.5% v/v) were required to kill HaCaT cells outright, but for both pro- and eukaryotes the major determinant of cytotoxicity was absolute dose rather than duration of exposure. Iodine delivered by the hydrogel at low concentration was bacteriostatic but not apparently cytotoxic to epithelial cells as measured by MTT end-point cell viability assay. Zone of inhibition studies confirmed that bacteriocidal quantities of neomycin, phenol red, and silver could also be delivered using the same hydrogel. This research suggests that grafting cell-based biological dressings to wounds using a topographically modified hydrogel dressing capable of simultaneous reducing the microbiological threat to a successful outcome may be a realistic clinical proposition.

A Health Literacy Program Using Family Health History for Young Black Rural Students: Implications for Reducing Health Disparities.

This report from the field introduces use of the U.S. Surgeon General's Family Health Portrait in an African American rural middle school population in Alabama. It is believed that use of this online tool in this population could serve as a model for addressing chronic health disparities between African Americans and Whites at an earlier age.

Hematopoietic stem cell cytokines and fibroblast growth factor-2 stimulate human endothelial cell-pericyte tube co-assembly in 3D fibrin matrices under serum-free defined conditions.

We describe a novel 3D fibrin matrix model using recombinant hematopoietic stem cell cytokines under serum-free defined conditions which promotes the assembly of human endothelial cell (EC) tubes with co-associated pericytes. Individual ECs and pericytes are randomly mixed together and EC tubes form that is accompanied by pericyte recruitment to the EC tube abluminal surface over a 3-5 day period. These morphogenic processes are stimulated by a combination of the hematopoietic stem cell cytokines, stem cell factor, interleukin-3, stromal derived factor-1α, and Flt-3 ligand which are added in conjunction with fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2 into the fibrin matrix. In contrast, this tube morphogenic response does not occur under serum-free defined conditions when VEGF and FGF-2 are added together in the fibrin matrices. We recently demonstrated that VEGF and FGF-2 are able to prime EC tube morphogenic responses (i.e. added overnight prior to the morphogenic assay) to hematopoietic stem cell cytokines in collagen matrices and, interestingly, they also prime EC tube morphogenesis in 3D fibrin matrices. EC-pericyte interactions in 3D fibrin matrices leads to marked vascular basement membrane assembly as demonstrated using immunofluorescence and transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, we show that hematopoietic stem cell cytokines and pericytes stimulate EC sprouting in fibrin matrices in a manner dependent on the α5ß1 integrin. This novel co-culture system, under serum-free defined conditions, allows for a molecular analysis of EC tube assembly, pericyte recruitment and maturation events in a critical ECM environment (i.e. fibrin matrices) that regulates angiogenic events in postnatal life.

Control of vascular tube morphogenesis and maturation in 3D extracellular matrices by endothelial cells and pericytes.

An important advance using in vitro EC tube morphogenesis and maturation models has been the development of systems using serum-free defined media. Using this approach, the growth factors and cytokines which are actually necessary for these events can be determined. The first model developed by our laboratory was such a system where we showed that phorbol ester was needed in order to promote survival and tube morphogenesis in 3D collagen matrices. Recently, we have developed a new system in which the hematopoietic stem cell cytokines, stem cell factor (SCF), interleukin-3 (IL-3), and stromal derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) were added in conjunction with FGF-2 to promote human EC tube morphogenesis in 3D collagen matrices under serum-free defined conditions. This new model using SCF, IL-3, SDF-1α, and FGF-2 also works well following the addition of pericytes where EC tube formation occurs, pericytes are recruited to the tubes, and vascular basement membrane matrix assembly occurs following EC-pericyte interactions. In this chapter, we describe several in vitro assay models that we routinely utilize to investigate the molecular requirements that are critical to EC tube formation and maturation events in 3D extracellular matrix environments.