Making sense of WIC: Narratives from the margin

Poverty is a social and economic structure that shapes the livelihood of millions of United States citizens. Despite the literature pointing to the negative influence of poverty on the health of the poor, the narratives of the people living poverty on day-to-day basis remained absent from the public sphere. This project attended to the articulations of the poor as they situated their health in the backdrop of their economic situation. I concentrated on understanding the challenges and opportunities the unprivileged clients of The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) face as they navigate through poverty structures and the lack of accessibility to health services. Marginalized by the society, WIC clients were dropped from WIC discourse and policy circles. Grounded in the culture-centered approach, this study seeks to foreground the voices of the WIC clients in the policy-making discourse through active creation of opportunities for dialogue that bring to the forefront the untold stories of their marginalization and resistance. Using in-depth interviews, ethnographic observation, archival review and journal keeping for data, I proposed ways drawn from these narratives to influence policy making and provision of health services to the poor. WIC clients interrogated their nutritionally-at-risk lives, examined the processes and the services of WIC, and shared strategies to circumvent the delimiting structures of their poverty. The culture-centered approach provided the theoretical and practical framework to highlight the power structures that confined the life of the marginalized.

Personality traits and high cigarette dependence among university students: Insights from Lebanon.

PurposeThe use of tobacco and cigarette products remains widespread globally, with varying patterns across countries. Understanding the factors influencing cigarette dependence among young adults is crucial for effective smoking prevention and control programs. Personality traits are one of the factors that influence smoking behaviour, yet the evidence on their role in high cigarette dependence among young adults remains inconclusive. This study aims to provide insights and initial evidence on the potential association between personality dimensions, sociodemographic factors, lifestyle habits, and high cigarette dependence among Lebanese university students.MethodsA convenient sample of 212 student smokers from one private and one public university in Lebanon participated in an online survey. The survey included measures of personality traits using the Big-Five framework, sociodemographic factors, lifestyle habits, and the Fagerström Test for Cigarette Dependence (FTCD). Logistic regression models and mediation analysis were used to analyze the data.ResultsThe results revealed significant associations between personality dimensions and high cigarette dependence among Lebanese university students. Smokers with higher levels of Openness to Experience were more likely to have high cigarette dependence (β = 0.408, p ConclusionThese findings highlight the importance of considering personality dimensions, sociodemographic factors, and lifestyle habits in understanding high cigarette dependence among Lebanese university students. The results can inform the development of targeted interventions to address high cigarette dependence in this population

Logistic regression output for exploring impact of personality dimensions on cigarette dependence.

Logistic regression output for exploring impact of personality dimensions on cigarette dependence.</p

Logistic regression model for exploring impact of personality dimensions on cigarette dependence after adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle variables.

Logistic regression model for exploring impact of personality dimensions on cigarette dependence after adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle variables.</p

Indirect effect(s) of openness to experience on cigarette dependence.

Indirect effect(s) of openness to experience on cigarette dependence.</p

Demographic and lifestyle characteristics of study participants.

Demographic and lifestyle characteristics of study participants.</p

A multi-component intervention to support breastfeeding in Lebanon: A randomized clinical trial.

BackgroundEffective evidence-based breastfeeding support interventions can bolster breastfeeding practices. This study investigated the effect of a multi-component breastfeeding support intervention delivered in hospital and home settings on six-month exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) relative to standard care.MethodsThis is a parallel group, randomized clinical trial, in which 362 healthy pregnant women with singleton pregnancy were randomly allocated to a multi-component intervention that included antenatal breastfeeding education, professional, and peer support, delivered in hospital and home settings for six months (experimental, n = 174), or to standard care (control, n = 188). The primary outcome was six-month EBF rate. Secondary outcomes were exclusive and any breastfeeding rates at one and three months, maternal breastfeeding knowledge, attitude, and behavior at six months, and satisfaction with the intervention.ResultsThe crude six-month EBF rate was similar in both groups (35.2% vs. 28.1% in the experimental and control groups, respectively, p = 0·16). In adjusted analysis, six-month exclusivity was twice as likely in the experimental group relative to standard care (OR = 2.02; 95%CI: 1.20 to 3.39); whereas the odds for any breastfeeding were similar. Participants compliant with all three components were six times more likely to practice EBF for six months relative to standard care (OR = 6.63; 95% CI: 3.03 to 14.51). Breastfeeding knowledge of the experimental group, at six months, was significantly improved compared to the control. No changes were observed in breastfeeding attitude or behavior.ConclusionsCombining education with peer and professional breastfeeding support improved six-month breastfeeding exclusivity and knowledge

Phytochemicals as Micronutrients: What Is their Therapeutic Promise in the Management of Alzheimer’s Disease?

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease with devastating outcomes to patients and exhaustive burdens to healthcare systems. Alzheimer’s disease has always been the focus of extensive research since its discovery in the early 1900s; however, AD continues to wreak havoc among the elderly population. Unfortunately, until now AD is still without any defined treatment that can curb its otherwise insidious progression. In the wake of this crisis and in the absence of a restorative cure, alternative approaches to AD management have been sought. In this regard, phytochemicals—a class of micronutrients composed of herbal or plant secondary metabolites— have shown potential as novel agents in the management of several diseases including cancer, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, hyperglycemia, and neurodegenerative disorders including AD. Phytochemicals therapeutic abilities can be attributed to their ability to protect against several AD pathologic events such as inflammation, oxidative stress, protein misfolding, aggregation, and several more. In this chapter, we overview AD and its progression to pathology. Next, we highlight the available conventional treatments currently used to mitigate symptoms of AD. Then, we expose phytochemicals and their known therapeutic potential in several diseases including neurodegenerative disorders. Lastly, we explore the available literature concerning the use of phytochemicals in the management of AD. Specifically, light is shed on the possible curative capacity of certain plant phytochemicals—namely those of Ginkgo biloba, Piper nigrum, Withania somnifera, Lavandula angustifolia, Olea europaea, Nigella sativa, Ficus carica, and Panax ginseng—in the management of AD. Mechanisms by which extracts of these plants exert their neuroprotective effects are discussed alongside other aspects pertaining to the efficacy, safety, and druggability of some of these phytochemicals. We conclude that phytochemicals have shown promise in the management of AD. However, clinical trials remain lacking in this area and extensive efforts need to be exerted to determine the safety, efficacy, and exact modes of action of phytochemicals in human AD patients

Phytochemicals as Micronutrients: What Is their Therapeutic Promise in the Management of Traumatic Brain Injury?

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the key causes of deaths and disabilities worldwide. TBI progresses in two phases. The primary phase of injury is the direct result of the physical damage caused by the external force applied to the brain while the secondary injury takes place minutes to days after the primary injury. The secondary phase of TBI is marked by a series of pathological events that start following the initial mechanical impact. The mechanisms underlying TBI pathogenesis in the secondary phase are intricate and include metabolic alterations, excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation, among others; all culminating in neuronal cell damage and death. Currently, there is no FDA-licensed drug that targets TBI. Hence, the search for novel therapeutic agents that can target one or more of the mechanisms underlying the pathology of the secondary phase of TBI is warranted. Such novel therapeutic agents are expected to ameliorate the adverse consequences of TBI. Over the years, evidence has accumulated regarding the role of phytochemicals as novel agents in the management of TBI. Phytochemicals are a class of micronutrients composed of herbal or plant secondary metabolites. Phytochemicals offer appropriate candidates for the treatment of TBI since their use can warrant the inhibition of the progression of the secondary injury and the activation of major neuroprotective signaling pathways following TBI. In this regards, phytochemicals have been acknowledged to cause a significant decrease in neuronal injury through different mechanisms including the activation of the Nrf2 transcription factor leading to activation of several antioxidant enzyme systems such as superoxide dismutase, inhibition of NADPH oxidases (NOX) enzymes, suppression of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activity and reduction of the release of inflammatory mediators, suppression of the NLRP3 inflammasome, stimulation of neurogenesis by activating neurotrophic factors (BDNF), among others. As such, the chapter aims to evaluate the neuroprotective effects of phytochemicals in TBI by reviewing the available literature. In this chapter, we introduce TBI and the mechanisms that underlie its pathology. Also, we overview the current conventional strategies that are being used to manage TBI. Then, we overview phytochemicals and explore their use in the management of diseases with a special focus on their use in the treatment of neurological diseases. Finally, we discuss the therapeutic potentials of phytochemicals in the management of TBI by focusing on six phytochemicals: ginseng, curcumin, coumarin, genistein, apocynin, and baicalein. We review the available literature on the use of these phytochemicals in the context of TBI. In addition, we document the recent studies aimed that discuss the in vitro and in vivo experimental evidence on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuroprotection by these phytochemicals. We conclude that all of the studied phytochemicals have shown experimental preclinical promise. But, well-designed and controlled clinical trials are urgently needed to demonstrate their safety and efficacy in order to realize their benefits in human TBI patients