Gender and old age among the Samia of Kenya

Gender differences in old age among, rural Samia in western Kenya are explored from a life-course perspective, i.e. as the outcome of gender differences in opportunities and experiences from childhood into old age. The impact of socio-economic change is considered, along, with ways that lifelong gender-differentiated experiences affect old age, particularly regarding the special problems or vulnerabilities of women compared with men

Ubuntu, African elderly and the African family crisis

Ubuntu, the African ethos of caring and sharing, has crucial implications for the elderly throughout sub-Saharan Africa, especially regarding the current situation of family crisis in Africa and African responses to this crisis. Case studies from research on Kenyan elderly illustrate the meanings of Ubuntu in everyday life. Policy implications are also considered

Gender, ageing and empowerment: issues in contemporary African gerontology

“Empowerment” is a key concept in many contemporary endeavours, including social research and social action, its meaning may vary according to disciplinary perspectives, political objectives and other factors. But surely it includes elements of having choices and making decisions, being to some extent in control of one's life and the social and economic environment in which one lives that life

Does marital status matter? Support, personal autonomy and economic power among Abaluyia widows in Kenya

This article considers issues of personal and economic power among African women in regard to their marital situation. Since marriage is usually crucial to young African women's gaining access to resources, in later life does marital status matter? Are widows worse off than wives, as is the situation of widows in much of the world? A brief description of widowhood worldwide is followed by material from research among older Abaluyia women in Kenya, among whom widowhood offers advantages which today are leading some Abaluyia women to choose widowhood over remarriage. Finally, the discussion is broadened to a consideration of widows in other sub-Saharan African countries. While some African women's situation becomes precarious with the loss of a husband, others prefer not to be married, for a variety of reasons relating to personal autonomy and control of resources and also because in general security in old age depends more on other kin, especially sons, than on husbands. Thus it seems that while marital status matters among older African women, the status preferred may be that of widow (or in some places retired" wife), when widowhood results in the empowerment of the widow and does not threaten her personal security

Zulu grandmothers socialization of granddaughters

Qualitative exploratory research among Zulu grandmothers and granddaughters was carried out in 199S in KwaZulu-Natal. Preliminary analysis of data from interviews and participant observation is briefly reported here. This analysis suggests that older women continue to have important roles in Zulu families, including teaching granddaughters about work and respectful behaviour. At the same time, there are tensions and stresses between the generations and between Zulu ideas about women's roles and transformations of women's roles in contemporary South Africa. Interviewees' perceptions of critical junctures of these interpersonal and sociocultural tensions focussed on premarital sexual behaviour and pregnancies, respect between the generations, and education and its effects on the roles of Zulu women (and more broadly, gender relations), and women's possibilities for success in the formal economy and modern world. Aware of these tensions and problems, grandmothers are not giving up their mission to socialise granddaughters into Zulu culture, even when there are failures such as a granddaughters falling pregnant. At the same time, they are looking for ways to enhance their granddaughters' life chances through formal education

Intergenerational relations among the Samia of Kenya: culture and experience

Culture in the sense of beliefs or norms for behaviour may be at variance with the actual experience of individuals, as is the case with intergenerational relationships among the Samia of rural Western Kenya. Samia has undergone enormous changes in the 20th century; these changes have created differences in the knowledge and experiences of older and younger generations. While there is consensus across generations about behavioural norms based on principles of seniority, respect and reciprocity, views diverge regarding how well ideals are lived up to in actual behaviour. Young people say that elders often do not understand modern life and they prefer being with other young people; many older people say that the young do not respect their elders, nor do they want to walk or sit and talk with elders. However data reported here indicate that contacts between generations are frequent, providing opportunities for social interaction, skill acquisition, emotional support and reciprocal exchanges. Examples given include patterns of association in daily activities, the nature of intergenerational discourse, and family decision making involving two or more generations. Though not always smooth, relationships between generations are important sources of social interaction and mutual assistance, and frequent contacts provide a sense of generational continuity in a fast-changing world

Evolution of retinoic acid receptors in chordates: insights from three lamprey species, Lampetra fluviatilis, Petromyzon marinus, and Lethenteron japonicum

International audienceBackground : Retinoic acid (RA) signaling controls many developmental processes in chordates, from early axis specification to late organogenesis. The functions of RA are chiefly mediated by a subfamily of nuclear hormone receptors, the retinoic acid receptors (RARs), that act as ligand-activated transcription factors. While RARs have been extensively studied in jawed vertebrates (that is, gnathostomes) and invertebrate chordates, very little is known about the repertoire and developmental roles of RARs in cyclostomes, which are extant jawless vertebrates. Here, we present the first extensive study of cyclostome RARs focusing on three different lamprey species: the European freshwater lamprey, Lampetra fluviatilis, the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, and the Japanese lamprey, Lethenteron japonicum.Results : We identified four rar paralogs (rar1, rar2, rar3, and rar4) in each of the three lamprey species, and phylogenetic analyses indicate a complex evolutionary history of lamprey rar genes including the origin of rar1 and rar4 by lineage-specific duplication after the lamprey-hagfish split. We further assessed their expression patterns during embryonic development by in situ hybridization. The results show that lamprey rar genes are generally characterized by dynamic and highly specific expression domains in different embryonic tissues. In particular, lamprey rar genes exhibit combinatorial expression domains in the anterior central nervous system (CNS) and the pharyngeal region.Conclusions : Our results indicate that the genome of lampreys encodes at least four rar genes and suggest that the lamprey rar complement arose from vertebrate-specific whole genome duplications followed by a lamprey-specific duplication event. Moreover, we describe a combinatorial code of lamprey rar expression in both anterior CNS and pharynx resulting from dynamic and highly specific expression patterns during embryonic development. This ‘RAR code’ might function in regionalization and patterning of these two tissues by differentially modulating the expression of downstream effector genes during development

Smart Phone, Smart Science: How the Use of Smartphones Can Revolutionize Research in Cognitive Science

Investigating human cognitive faculties such as language, attention, and memory most often relies on testing small and homogeneous groups of volunteers coming to research facilities where they are asked to participate in behavioral experiments. We show that this limitation and sampling bias can be overcome by using smartphone technology to collect data in cognitive science experiments from thousands of subjects from all over the world. This mass coordinated use of smartphones creates a novel and powerful scientific “instrument” that yields the data necessary to test universal theories of cognition. This increase in power represents a potential revolution in cognitive science

Soil Contamination Interpretation by the Use of Monitoring Data Analysis

The presented study deals with the interpretation of soil quality monitoring data using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal components analysis (PCA). Both statistical methods contributed to the correct data classification and projection of the surface (0–20 cm) and subsurface (20–40 cm) soil layers of 36 sampling sites in the region of Burgas, Bulgaria. Clustering of the variables led to formation of four significant clusters corresponding to possible sources defining the soil quality like agricultural activity, industrial impact, fertilizing, etc. Two major clusters were found to explain the sampling site locations according to soil composition—one cluster for coastal and mountain sites and another—for typical rural and industrial sites. Analogous results were obtained by the use of PCA. The advantage of the latter was the opportunity to offer more quantitative interpretation of the role of identified soil quality sources by the level of explained total variance. The score plots and the dendrogram of the sampling sites indicated a relative spatial homogeneity according to geographical location and soil layer depth. The high-risk areas and pollution profiles were detected and visualized using surface maps based on Kriging algorithm

COVID-19: Third dose booster vaccine effectiveness against breakthrough coronavirus infection, hospitalisations and death in patients with cancer: A population-based study

Purpose: People living with cancer and haematological malignancies are at increased risk of hospitalisation and death following infection with acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Coronavirus third dose vaccine boosters are proposed to boost waning immune responses in immunocompromised individuals and increase coronavirus protection; however, their effectiveness has not yet been systematically evaluated. Methods: This study is a population-scale real-world evaluation of the United Kingdom’s third dose vaccine booster programme for cancer patients from 8th December 2020 to 7th December 2021. The cancer cohort comprises individuals from Public Health England’s national cancer dataset, excluding individuals less than 18 years. A test-negative case-control design was used to assess third dose booster vaccine effectiveness. Multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to compare risk in the cancer cohort relative to the general population. Results: The cancer cohort comprised of 2,258,553 tests from 361,098 individuals. Third dose boosters were evaluated by reference to 87,039,743 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coronavirus tests. Vaccine effectiveness against breakthrough infections, symptomatic infections, coronavirus hospitalisation and death in cancer patients were 59.1%, 62.8%, 80.5% and 94.5% respectively. Lower vaccine effectiveness was associated with a cancer diagnosis within 12 months, lymphoma, recent systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) or radiotherapy. Lymphoma patients had low levels of protection from symptomatic disease. In spite of third dose boosters, following multivariable adjustment, individuals with cancer remain at increased risk of coronavirus hospitalisation and death compared to the population control (OR 3.38, 3.01 respectively. p<0.001 for both). Conclusions: Third dose boosters are effective for most individuals with cancer, increasing protection from coronavirus. However, their effectiveness is heterogenous, and lower than the general population. Many patients with cancer will remain at increased risk of coronavirus infections, even after 3 doses. In the case of patients with lymphoma, there is a particularly strong disparity of vaccine effectiveness against breakthrough infection and severe disease. Breakthrough infections will disrupt cancer care and treatment with potentially adverse consequences on survival outcomes. The data support the role of vaccine boosters in preventing severe disease, and further pharmacological intervention to prevent transmission and aid viral clearance to limit disruption of cancer care as the delivery of care continues to evolve during the coronavirus pandemic