Understanding lactation policies and resources across a university system: survey and document review.

BACKGROUND: In the U.S., employees often return to work within 8-12 weeks of giving birth, therefore, it is critical that workplaces provide support for employees combining breastfeeding and work. The Affordable Care Act requires any organization with more than 50 employees to provide a space other than a restroom to express breastmilk and a reasonable amount of time during the workday to do so. States and worksites differ in the implementation of ACA requirements and may or may not provide additional support for employees combining breastfeeding and work. The purpose of this study was to conduct an analysis of the policies and resources available at 26 institutions within a state university system to support breastfeeding when employees return to work after giving birth. METHODS: Survey data was collected from Well-being Liaisons in the human resources departments at each institution. In addition, we conducted a document review of policies and online materials at each institution. We used univariate statistics to summarize survey results and an inductive and deductive thematic analysis to analyze institutional resources available on websites and in policies provided by the liaisons. RESULTS: A total of 18 (65.3%) liaisons participated in the study and revealed an overall lack of familiarity with the policies in place and inconsistencies in the resources offered to breastfeeding employees across the university system. Only half of the participating liaisons reported a formal breastfeeding policy was in place on their campus. From the document review, six major themes were identified: placing the burden on employees, describing pregnancy or postpartum as a "disability," having a university-specific policy, inclusion of break times for breastfeeding, supervisor responsibility, and information on lactation policies. CONCLUSION: The review of each institution's online resources confirmed the survey findings and highlighted the burden placed on employees to discover the available resources and advocate for their needs. This paper provides insight into how institutions support breastfeeding employees and provides implications on strategies to develop policies at universities to improve breastfeeding access for working parents.

Randomised controlled trial of exercise training during lactation on breast milk composition in breastfeeding people with overweight/obesity: a study protocol for the MILKSHAKE trial.

Breast milk from people with overweight/obesity may differ in composition compared with that from normal-weight people. Exercise training can modify breast milk composition in rodent models, with a beneficial impact demonstrated on the offspring's metabolism, but whether these findings translate to humans is unclear. This trial aims to determine the effect of an exercise intervention on breast milk composition and whether an exercise-induced modification of breast milk impacts the infants' growth and body composition. Effect of Exercise Training on Breastmilk Composition is a randomised, controlled trial with two parallel groups, one exercise group and one control group, with a 1:1 allocation. We will include a minimum of 62 exclusively breastfeeding participants, 6 weeks postpartum. The exercise intervention lasts 8 weeks and comprises 25 supervised endurance exercise sessions with moderate or high intensity. The primary outcome measure is the change in the relative concentration of the human milk oligosaccharide 3'sialyllactose in breast milk from baseline at 6 weeks postpartum to the end of the intervention period. Secondary outcomes include breast milk concentrations of other metabolites, cytokines, hormones and microRNA, maternal health outcomes, infant growth, infant gut microbiome and infant circulating microRNA. Maternal and infant outcomes will be measured before, during and after the intervention period, with a follow-up of the infants until they are 24 months old. Trial registration number NCT05488964.

Compressive molding of engineered tissues via thermoresponsive hydrogel devices.

Biofabrication of tissues requires sourcing appropriate combinations of cells, and then arranging those cells into a functionally-useful construct. Recently, organoids with diverse cell populations have shown great promise as building blocks from which to assemble more complex structures. However, organoids typically adopt spherical or uncontrolled morphologies, which intrinsically limit the tissue structures that can be produced using this bioassembly technique. Here, we develop microfabricated smart hydrogel platforms in thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) to compressively mold microtissues such as spheroids or organoids into customized forms, on demand. These Compressive Hydrogel Molders (CHyMs) compact at cell culture temperatures to force loaded tissues into a new shape, and then expand to release the tissues for downstream applications. As a first demonstration, breast cancer spheroids were biaxially compacted in cylindrical cavities, and uniaxially compacted in rectangular ones. Spheroid shape changes persisted after the tissues were released from the CHyMs. We then demonstrate long-term molding of spherical brain organoids in ring-shaped CHyMs over one week. Fused bridges formed only when brain organoids were encased in Matrigel, and the resulting ring-shaped organoids expressed tissue markers that correspond with expected differentiation profiles. These results demonstrate that tissues differentiate appropriately even during long-term molding in a CHyM. This platform hence provides a new tool to shape pre-made tissues as desired, via temporary compression and release, allowing an exploration of alternative organoid geometries as building blocks for bioassembly applications.