Constipation and Its Dangers

Grandma or the old-fashioned nurse is responsible for a large share of the cases of constipation, says Dr. Brady in his book, Personal Health. True enough, for until recent years, very little attention has been paid to constipation; it was considered somewhat as red hair, some had it and some didn\u27t. But as for there being a scientific reason behind its presence, these grandmothers and practical nurses of ours scoffed at the idea

The Iowa Homemaker vol.3, no.4-5

Table of Contents We “Do Over” Our Rooms by Irma Camp and Alice Dodge, page 1 The Mysteries of Amateur Make Up by Frederica Shattuck, page 2 Fall Time Is Pickling Time by Katherine Howells, page 4 Episodes Concerning Evolution of Home Economics by Ruth Elaine Wilson, page 5 Tea – Suggestive of the Rainbow by Esther Ellen Rayburn, page 6 Vary the Vegetable by Blanche Ingersoll, page 7 Constipation and Its Dangers by Anne Mundt, page 8 Graduate Credit Conference for Vocational Home Economics at Iowa State by Eleanor Murray, page 9 Fish That Is Appetizing by Maxine Smith, page 9 Economy, Or a Wrong Idea by Harriett Wallace, page 1

Mental health in prisons in Latin America: The effects of COVID-19

Latin America is a vast region of the world. In 2022, it is estimated that nearly 620 million people live in 33 countries spanning almost 20 million km2 across North, South and Central America, and the Caribbean.1 These countries are united by their common historic cultural origins.2 It is estimated that Spanish is spoken by 400 million, and Portuguese by 200 million people in the region.2 Quechua is the most widely spoken indigenous language in the region, with around 8 million speakers; smaller numbers speak around 560 other indigenous languages such as Mayan, Guarani, and Nahuatl.2,3 The region was described as having a total gross domestic product (GDP) of almost 4.7 trillion US dollars in 2020, with substantial contributions from the four largest economies—Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile.4,5 However, Latin American countries are mainly considered developing nations.

Mental health intervention research in Latin American correctional settings: A scoping review

Background: The Latin American prison population has grown faster than anywhere else globally over the past two decades, reaching a total of 1.7 million people at any given time. However, research on mental health prevention and treatment interventions in Latin American prisons remains scarce. Aims: This study aimed to systematically review and synthesize research on prison mental health interventions conducted in the region. Methods: We used a two-stage scoping review design guided by the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis. Searches took place in December 2021 in nine databases using descriptors and synonyms. First, all prison mental health research in Latin America was retained. Secondly, using title and abstract screening, all research possibly related to interventions was retained for full text evaluation. Studies reporting interventions were assessed by country, language, institution, population, intervention type, intervention focus and outcomes. Results: N = 34 studies were included in this review. These were 13 case reports, seven expert consensus papers and 14 quantitative studies (four randomized controlled trials, nine cohort studies, one quasi-experimental study). Fourteen interventions were targeted at promoting prosocial behavior, seven studies each aimed to improve mental health and to treat substance use disorders. Six studies involved the treatment of sexual offending behavior, and 3 focused on reducing criminal recidivism. Psychoeducation (n = 12) and motivational interviewing (n = 5) were the most frequent intervention types studied. Promising data from trials showed that anger management, depression, substance use and reoffending could be successfully addressed through interventions. Conclusions: Implementation and effectiveness research of mental health interventions in Latin American prisons is scarce. Addressing mental health, substance use and prosocial behavior outcomes should be considered in future research. There is a particular dearth of controlled trials describing quantifiable outcomes

HCV Induces Oxidative and ER Stress, and Sensitizes Infected Cells to Apoptosis in SCID/Alb-uPA Mice

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a blood-borne pathogen and a major cause of liver disease worldwide. Gene expression profiling was used to characterize the transcriptional response to HCV H77c infection. Evidence is presented for activation of innate antiviral signaling pathways as well as induction of lipid metabolism genes, which may contribute to oxidative stress. We also found that infection of chimeric SCID/Alb-uPA mice by HCV led to signs of hepatocyte damage and apoptosis, which in patients plays a role in activation of stellate cells, recruitment of macrophages, and the subsequent development of fibrosis. Infection of chimeric mice with HCV H77c also led an inflammatory response characterized by infiltration of monocytes and macrophages. There was increased apoptosis in HCV-infected human hepatocytes in H77c-infected mice but not in mice inoculated with a replication incompetent H77c mutant. Moreover, TUNEL reactivity was restricted to HCV-infected hepatocytes, but an increase in FAS expression was not. To gain insight into the factors contributing specific apoptosis of HCV infected cells, immunohistological and confocal microscopy using antibodies for key apoptotic mediators was done. We found that the ER chaperone BiP/GRP78 was increased in HCV-infected cells as was activated BAX, but the activator of ER stress–mediated apoptosis CHOP was not. We found that overall levels of NF-κB and BCL-xL were increased by infection; however, within an infected liver, comparison of infected cells to uninfected cells indicated both NF-κB and BCL-xL were decreased in HCV-infected cells. We conclude that HCV contributes to hepatocyte damage and apoptosis by inducing stress and pro-apoptotic BAX while preventing the induction of anti-apoptotic NF-κB and BCL-xL, thus sensitizing hepatocytes to apoptosis

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead