Come Together to Decrease Depression: Women's mental health, social capital, and participation in a Kenyan combined microfinance program.

BACKGROUND: Tools and systems to improve mental health have been understudied in low-resource environments, such as sub-Saharan Africa. This study explores depression amongst women participating in a community-based intervention combining savings- and lending-groups, entrepreneurial training and other skills training. AIMS: This study aims to determine whether depression decreases with more program participation, and the extent to which social capital variables may explain these changes. METHOD: Survey data were gathered in June 2018, within 6 months of group formation, and again in June 2019 from 400 women participants in the program. Data between 2018 and 2019 were compared using Wilcoxon rank-sum and Chi square tests. Inferential statistics included random effects regression models and general structural equation models. RESULTS: At 1-year follow-up, depression and loneliness amongst Kenyan women (n = 400) participating in the program had decreased. Social capital remained higher within groups than within the broader community, and mediated the association between program participation and decreased depression. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest this novel, community-based intervention has the potential to benefit mental health. Future research, including a randomised control trial, is required to establish (1) the extent of the program's benefits and (2) the program's application to particular subject areas and population segments.

Mapping polycomb response elements at the Drosophilla melanogaster giant locus.

Polycomb-group (PcG) proteins are highly conserved epigenetic transcriptional regulators. They are capable of either maintaining the transcriptional silence of target genes through many cell cycles or enabling a dynamic regulation of gene expression in stem cells. In Drosophila melanogaster, recruitment of PcG proteins to targets requires the presence of at least one polycomb response element (PRE). Although the sequence requirements for PREs are not well-defined, the presence of Pho, a PRE-binding PcG protein, is a very good PRE indicator. In this study, we identify two PRE-containing regions at the PcG target gene, giant, one at the promoter, and another approximately 6 kb upstream. PRE-containing fragments, which coincide with localized presence of Pho in chromatin immunoprecipitations, were shown to maintain restricted expression of a lacZ reporter gene in embryos and to cause pairing-sensitive silencing of the mini-white gene in eyes. Our results also reinforce previous observations that although PRE maintenance and pairing-sensitive silencing activities are closely linked, the sequence requirements for these functions are not identical.