Persistent Lipophilic Environmental Chemicals and Endometriosis: The ENDO Study

Background: An equivocal literature exists regarding the relation between persistent organochlorine pollutants (POPs) and endometriosis in women, with differences attributed to methodologies

Adolescence is characterized by more sedentary behaviour and less physical activity even among highly active forager-farmers

Over 80% of adolescents worldwide are insufficiently active, posing massive public health and economic challenges. Declining physical activity (PA) and sex differences in PA consistently accompany transitions from childhood to adulthood in post-industrialized populations and are attributed to psychosocial and environmental factors. An overarching evolutionary theoretical framework and data from pre-industrialized populations are lacking. This cross-sectional study tests hypotheses from life history theory, that adolescent PA is inversely related to age, but this association is mediated by Tanner stage, reflecting higher and sex-specific energetic demands for growth and reproductive maturation. Detailed measures of PA and pubertal maturation are assessed among Tsimane forager-farmers (age: 7–22 years; 50% female, n = 110). Most Tsimane sampled (71%) meet World Health Organization PA guidelines (greater than or equal to 60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous PA). Like post-industrialized populations, sex differences and inverse age-activity associations were observed. Tanner stage significantly mediated age-activity associations. Adolescence presents difficulties to PA engagement that warrant further consideration in PA intervention approaches to improve public health

Repercussions of patrilocal residence on mothers' social support networks among Tsimane forager–farmers

While it is commonly thought that patrilocality is associated with worse outcomes for women and their children due to lower social support, few studies have examined whether the structure of female social networks covaries with post-marital residence. Here, we analyse scan sample data collected among Tsimane forager–farmers. We compare the social groups and activity partners of 181 women residing in the same community as their parents, their husband's parents, both or neither. Relative to women living closer to their in-laws, women living closer to their parents are less likely to be alone or solely in the company of their nuclear family (odds ratio (OR): 0.6, 95% CI: 0.3–0.9), and more likely to be observed with others when engaging in food processing and manufacturing of market or household goods, but not other activities. Women are slightly more likely to receive childcare support from outside the nuclear family when they live closer to their parents (OR = 1.8, 95% CI 0.8–3.9). Their social group size and their children's probability of receiving allocare decrease significantly with distance from their parents, but not their in-laws. Our findings highlight the importance of women's proximity to kin, but also indicate that patrilocality per se is not costly to Tsimane women