Dietary factors and reproductive outcomes

Approximately 10–15% of couples experience infertility, the inability to conceive within 12 months of unprotected intercourse. Infertility often results in substantial psychologic and economic burden and has been associated with long-term adverse health outcomes including cardiovascular disease and gynecologic cancers. As reproductive failures may occur at any point in the cascade of processes necessary for pregnancy to occur, identifying mechanisms of and risk factors for infertility is an important public health goal. Diet, a complex and multi-faceted lifestyle factor, has changed dramatically in both developed and developing nations over the last few decades and currently accounts for nearly a tenth of the global burden of disease. While many studies have examined the role of the intake of specific dietary nutrients or food groups in relation to reproduction, few studies have examined the effect of dietary patterns on reproduction, especially in women without conditions known to impact menstrual function or fertility. Compared with examining individual nutrients, dietary patterns better reflect how individuals eat, thus investigations of the health effects of dietary patterns provide more translatable evidence for designing health interventions and improving population health. The objective of this dissertation is to examine the impact of dietary patterns and food allergens, which may have increased due in part to shifting dietary patterns, on fertility in women. Examining the association between dietary patterns and reproductive hormones may help elucidate the potential mechanism of how diet relates to fertility. In study one, we used data from BioCycle, a prospective cohort of regularly-menstruating premenopausal women living in New York state, to examine the association between three dietary patterns (the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2010, the alternative Mediterranean diet (aMed), and the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII)) and reproductive hormone serum concentrations and anovulation. We observed that greater adherence to each of these dietary patterns was associated with slight hormonal changes and that these changes may be associated with ovulatory function. We found that women with the greatest adherence to the HEI-2010, the aMed, or the most anti-inflammatory diet had greater risk of anovulation than those with the lowest level of adherence or the least anti-inflammatory diet (Risk Ratio (RR): 2.65, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 2.02; 3.47; RR: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.62, 2.60; RR:1.62, 95% CI: 1.23–2.14, respectively). In study two, we used data from Snart Foraeldre (SF) and Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), two preconception cohorts of pregnancy planners in Denmark and North America, respectively, to evaluate the association between the same three dietary patterns assessed in study one (HEI-2010, aMed, and the DII), with the addition of the Danish Dietary Guidelines Index (DDGI), and fecundability, the per-cycle probability of conception. In both cohorts, we observed that consuming a dietary pattern lower in anti-inflammatory properties was associated with reduced fecundability. In the PRESTO cohort, we observed greater fecundability with greater adherence to the HEI-2010 or the aMed. We did not observe an appreciable association between greater adherence to the DDGI or the aMed and fecundability in SF. In study three, we used data from PRESTO to evaluate the association between food allergens and fecundability. We found no appreciable association between history of diagnosed food allergy and fecundability. Within subsets of the cohort, including among those with a BMI ≥25 kg/m2 or women born ≥1990, we observed a slight association between food allergens and reduced fecundability. In conclusion, we observed that those with greater adherence to each of the dietary patterns or to more anti-inflammatory diets had an increased risk of anovulation. Conversely, we observed that those with greater adherence to specific dietary patterns or a more anti-inflammatory diet had improved fecundability. We observed a slight association between dietary patterns and reproductive hormone levels, a potential mechanism underling the association between dietary patterns and anovulation and fecundability. We observed no appreciable association between food allergies and fecundability. These findings indicate that dietary factors likely play a role in the etiology of infertility but there may be different mechanisms, likely multifactorial and not yet understood, underlying each of these associations.2022-05-14T00:00:00

Psychology: Religious Conflicts Amongst a Christian Campus

The current study seeks to develop and validate a quantitative measure of religion on a Christian campus. As the influence of religion in multiple aspects of the world continues to evolve, it becomes increasingly important to gain an understanding of the experiences of college students within a Christian campus. It has been found that “exposure to new ideas that college provides were thought to lead students to question and ultimately abandon their traditional religious beliefs” (Maryl & Oeur, 2009). More research regarding the effect of religion specifically on a Christian campus is needed; therefore, a reliable and valid psychometric scale is essential. In this study, we asked students at Belmont University questions regarding their religion and how welcome they feel on a Christian campus. Three hypotheses were tested. First, we hypothesized that our original scale will demonstrate reliability through internal consistency, split-half reliability, inter-item correlations, and item-total correlations. Second, we hypothesize that our scale will be positively correlated with the Religious Discrimination Scale (Allen et al., 2018) and the Attitudes Towards Evangelism Scale (Putney & Middleton, 1961). Third, Christians will feel more religiously accepted on campus than non-Christians. Results and discussion are forthcoming

Living Alone: Cognitive Aging In Tennessee

Living alone in old age is increasingly common. In the United States, the percentage of older adults living alone has more than quadrupled since the 1900s. “In 2014, 26% of older adults lived alone, representing 12.5 million people” (Portacolone et al., 2018). Those who live alone experience different aspects of aging, whether that be socially, cognitively, or physically. The data we used was gathered by mySidewalk, which offered over 600 points of data, aggregated at the zip code level, from across the entire state of Tennessee. The variables we examined more closely included Seniors in Family Households of 2 or More , Seniors Living Alone, and Seniors in Non-Family Households of Two or More , and “Poor Mental Health in Adults (2021)”. We examined whether living alone would have a negative effect on various aspects of health, specifically mental health. This study offers a more in-depth look of how there is a rising population of women living alone due to divorce and being widowed. Additionally, living alone doesn’t indicate positive mental health. There are still cognitive and even physical risks from isolated living that efforts should be made to mitigate. Also, previous literature indicates more women live alone, but studies show more data on elderly men. Lastly, mental health awareness movements emphasize teenagers and young adults, but the emotional health of adults has less attention as their ages increase. Our results indicate a notable negative effect on emotional and mental health regarding isolated living, indicating that additional attention should be provided to any older adults who are currently living alone. Further research in this area could investigate specific facets of emotional satisfaction seen in older adults with these circumstances to better understand the specific degree of cognitive decline caused by the lack of regular social interaction

Procyon lotor

5 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 5)."Two female raccoons on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, concentrated their activity in July 1979, on a smaller home range than they used in April, perhaps because of care of young. A male studied in the same area did not appreciably change his home range, which was larger than those of the females. One of the females remained in the area mapped in 1979 for at least 5.5 years. Home ranges for both sexes were smaller than ranges, which had also been measured by radiotelemetry, on the north part of the island. Perhaps this was because the animals' needed resources are available in a smaller area as a result of a finer interspersion of areas of woods and marshes in the southern part"--P. [1]

We Have Something to Say: Youth Participatory Action Research as a Promising Practice to Address Problems of Practice in Rural Schools

The purpose of this article is to highlight a critical approach for practice, youth participatory action research, that can be used to invite rural youth to collaborate with school administrators, educators, and community leaders to identify and examine challenges, while building upon the strengths of a school and community to address challenges. Our youth participatory action research project was a collaboration between adult researchers and five students from a rural high school to examine and address postsecondary education access challenges. The adult and student researchers developed and implemented two evidence-based products: (a) a conference and (b) a resource corner in the school library. Student co-researchers demonstrated an increased commitment to the project, development of postsecondary education knowledge, and development as leaders during the project. Our project demonstrates evidence of youth participatory action research being an effective approach to address problems of practice in rural education

Dietary cadmium intake and fecundability in a North American preconception cohort study

Objective To evaluate the association between dietary cadmium intake (D-Cd) and fecundability. Diet is one of the main sources of cadmium, and D-Cd is often used as indicator of cadmium exposure, particularly in non-smoking populations. In a previous preconception cohort study of 501 couples,1 high female cadmium concentrations measured in whole blood were associated with reduced fecundability. Design Prospective cohort study (2013-2018). Materials and Methods Pregnancy Online Study (PRESTO) is a North American prospective preconception cohort of pregnancy planners. At baseline, female participants aged 21-45 years completed a web-based questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, medical and reproductive factors. Ten days after enrollment, participants completed the National Cancer Institute Dietary History Questionnaire II, a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) of average intake during the previous year. D-Cd (\u3bcg/day) was estimated by combining FFQ responses with US Food and Drug Administration data on food cadmium content. Participants were then followed for up to 12 months or until reported pregnancy, whichever came first. The analysis included 4,768 women attempting to conceive for 646 cycles at study entry and not using fertility treatment. We used a proportional probabilities regression model to estimate fecundability ratios (FR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), adjusted for age, body mass index (BMI), smoking history, parity, physical activity, last method of contraception, daily use of multivitamins, race/ethnicity, education, income, geographic region, and the 2010 healthy eating index score. We used the nutrient residual approach to adjust for energy intake. Results Median D-Cd was 8.0 \u3bcg/day (interquartile range: 7.0-9.1 \u3bcg/day). The top 5 contributors to D-Cd were nuts and seeds; fried potatoes; dark green lettuce; cooked greens; and white potatoes. Compared with an average D-Cd of <6.8 \u3bcg/day, FRs for D-Cd quintiles of 6.8-7.6, 7.7-8.4, 8.5-9.5, and 659.6 \u3bcg/day were 1.03 (CI: 0.92-1.14), 1.07 (CI: 0.96-1.18), 1.07 (CI: 0.96-1.19), and 1.08 (0.97-1.20), respectively. Results were not appreciably different among never smokers with no current passive smoke exposure, for whom cadmium exposure from other sources (e.g., cigarettes) would be lower (respective FRs: 1.02, 1.05, 1.06 and 1.02). Results did not differ materially by age (<30 vs. 6530 years), BMI (<30 vs. 6530 kg/m2), total fiber intake (<25 vs. 6525 g/day), geographic region of residence (West, Midwest, Northeast, South, Canada), or attempt time at study entry (<3 vs. 653 cycles). Conclusions Dietary intake of cadmium was not appreciably associated with fecundability, though exposure misclassification and confounding could explain the null results. References 1 Buck Louis GM, Sundaram R, Schisterman EF, Sweeney AM, Lynch CD, Gore-Langton RE, Chen Z, Kim S, Caldwell KL, Barr DB. Heavy metals and couple fecundity, the LIFE Study. Chemosphere. 2012 Jun;87(11):1201-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2012.01.017. Epub 2012 Feb 4. PubMed PMID: 22309709; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3327819

The ABC of peer mentoring – what secondary students have to say about cross-age peer mentoring in a regional Australian school

Cross-age peer mentoring is an educational model that builds on peer support and mentoring to assist young people to enhance social relationships, develop cognitive skills, and promote positive identity development. In this article, we outline the evaluation process of a cross-age peer-mentoring program implemented in an Australian secondary school. This program had a distinctive focus on blending cross-age peer mentoring, academic tutoring, and social support roles. We focus on the program's consumers – the voices of Year 7 students (mentees) and Year 10 students (mentors). Student perspectives were gathered using qualitative methods through repeated focus groups. Data were thematically analysed, and the findings show observed changes in social relationships, problem-solving skills, and engagement with literacy. We discuss the importance of this relationship for effective learning and examine the reported changes to engagement with relationship building. Implications for developing whole-of-school support and increasing wider participation are discussed

A Multi-Lab Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis by the Many Smiles Collaboration

Following theories of emotional embodiment, the facial feedback hypothesis suggests that individuals’ subjective experiences of emotion are influenced by their facial expressions. However, evidence for this hypothesis has been mixed. We thus formed a global adversarial collaboration and carried out a preregistered, multicentre study designed to specify and test the conditions that should most reliably produce facial feedback effects. Data from n = 3,878 participants spanning 19 countries indicated that a facial mimicry and voluntary facial action task could both amplify and initiate feelings of happiness. However, evidence of facial feedback effects was less conclusive when facial feedback was manipulated unobtrusively via a pen-in-mouth task

A multi-lab test of the facial feedback hypothesis by the Many Smiles Collaboration

Following theories of emotional embodiment, the facial feedback hypothesis suggests that individuals' subjective experiences of emotion are influenced by their facial expressions. However, evidence for this hypothesis has been mixed. We thus formed a global adversarial collaboration and carried out a preregistered, multicentre study designed to specify and test the conditions that should most reliably produce facial feedback effects. Data from n = 3,878 participants spanning 19 countries indicated that a facial mimicry and voluntary facial action task could both amplify and initiate feelings of happiness. However, evidence of facial feedback effects was less conclusive when facial feedback was manipulated unobtrusively via a pen-in-mouth task