Grow Well/Crecer Bien: A Protocol for Research on Infant Feeding Practices in Low-Income Families

Background The prevalence of obesity among children remains high. Given obesity’s significant lifelong consequences, there is great interest in preventing obesity early in life. There is a need to better understand the relation of common infant feeding styles and practices to obesity in infants using longitudinal study designs. There is also an urgent need to understand the role of caregivers other than mothers in feeding. A better understanding of variation in feeding styles and practices can inform the identification of risk groups and the tailoring of interventions to them. Methods In partnership with Early Head Start programs across four counties in southern California, mothers and infants will be enrolled in a two-year longitudinal study collecting survey and anthropometric data. A subsample of mothers and their selected other caregivers will participate in qualitative research involving feeding diaries and dyadic interviews. The results will be used to develop and test an enhanced nutrition education program. Discussion We outline a study methodology to examine feeding styles and practices and their association with early childhood obesity risk and enhance an existing intervention to promote healthy infant feeding and growth among children in low-income families

¿De qué hablamos cuando hablamos de comunicación comunitaria? Etnografía de un proceso desde la universidad

What do we talk about when we talk about community communication? Ethnography of a process from the university The research systematized the conceptualization of Community Communication developed by the Area of Community Communication (ACC) from 2004 to 2017, assuming that it is a concept in definition and that it is carried out in the practices themselves, with the participation of the intervening actors.A self-ethnography was carried out on ACC field projects with inmates from the penal unit, rural producers who work on food sovereignty, members of social organizations, and women who worked on gender violence and memory of the neighborhood in Paraná.The initial analytical categories were communication, community and intervention, adding after the category of university, process, dialogue, time, celebration and participation.In terms of context, we also analyze the place of Community Communication in other academic spaces of Social Communication of national universities and inquire about university extension policies that frame the practices.  La investigación sistematizó la conceptualización de la comunicación comunitaria desarrollada por el Área de Comunicación Comunitaria (ACC) de 2004 a 2017, suponiendo que se trata de un concepto en definición y que se realiza en las prácticas mismas, con la participación de los actores intervinientes. Se realizó una autoetnografía sobre los proyectos en terreno del ACC con internos de la unidad penal, productores rurales que trabajan la soberanía alimentaria, integrantes de organizaciones sociales y mujeres que trabajaron sobre violencia de género y memoria barrial en Paraná. Las categorías analíticas iniciales fueron comunicación, comunidad e intervención, agregándose luego universidad, proceso, diálogo, tiempo, celebración y participación. En términos de contexto, analizamos también el lugar de la comunicación comunitaria en otros espacios académicos de Comunicación Social de las universidades nacionales e indagamos sobre las políticas de extensión universitaria que enmarcan las prácticas. &nbsp

Involvement of Non-Parental Caregivers in Obesity Prevention Interventions among 0-3-Year-Old Children: A Scoping Review.

IntroductionWe examined the scope of literature including non-parental caregiver involvement in child obesity prevention interventions.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review following the Arksey and O'Malley framework, including only studies reporting the effect of an intervention on growth, weight, or early childhood obesity risk among children ages 0 to three years, published between 2000 and 2021. Interventions that did not include non-parental caregivers (adults regularly involved in childcare other than parents) were excluded.ResultsOf the 14 studies that met the inclusion criteria, all were published between 2013 and 2020, and most interventions (n = 9) were implemented in the United States. Eight of the 14 interventions purposefully included other non-parental caregivers: five included both parents and non-parental caregivers, and the remaining three included only non-parental caregivers. Most interventions (n = 9) showed no significant impact on anthropometric outcomes. All interventions found improvements in at least one behavioral outcome (e.g., food groups intake (n = 5), parental feeding practices (n = 3), and screen time (n = 2)). This review can inform future interventions that plan to involve non-parental caregivers, which may be beneficial in shaping early health behaviors and preventing obesity early in life

The Role of Glucocorticoids in Breast Cancer Therapy

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive steroid molecules secreted by the adrenal gland and regulated by the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. GCs present a circadian release pattern under normal conditions; they increase their release under stress conditions. Their mechanism of action can be via the receptor-independent or receptor-dependent pathway. The receptor-dependent pathway translocates to the nucleus, where the ligand-receptor complex binds to specific sequences in the DNA to modulate the transcription of specific genes. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and its endogenous ligand cortisol (CORT) in humans, and corticosterone in rodents or its exogenous ligand, dexamethasone (DEX), have been extensively studied in breast cancer. Its clinical utility in oncology has mainly focused on using DEX as an antiemetic to prevent chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. In this review, we compile the results reported in the literature in recent years, highlighting current trends and unresolved controversies in this field. Specifically, in breast cancer, GR is considered a marker of poor prognosis, and a therapeutic target for the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype, and efforts are being made to develop better GR antagonists with fewer side effects. It is necessary to know the type of breast cancer to differentiate the treatment for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, ER-negative, and TNBC, to implement therapies that include the use of GCs