Links among inflammation, sexual activity and ovulation Evolutionary trade-offs and clinical implications

Background and objectives: We examined a mechanism that may coordinate trade-offs between reproduction and immune response in healthy women, namely, changes in inflammation across the ovarian cycle. Methodology: We investigated C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammation marker, across two consecutive ovarian cycles in 61 Bolivian women. Participants provided saliva samples every other day, and dried blood spots on 5–6 days spread across weeks 2–3 of each cycle. Cycles were characterized as ovulatory/ anovulatory based on profiles of reproductive hormones. Participants also reported whether they were sexually partnered with a male or sexually abstinent during the study. Results: High early-cycle, but not late-cycle, CRP was associated with anovulation. High inflammation at the end of one cycle was not associated with anovulation in the subsequent cycle. Among ovulatory cycles, women with sexual partners had significantly lower CRP at midcycle, and higher CRP at follicular and luteal phases; in contrast, sexually abstinent women had little cycle-related change in CRP. In anovulatory cycles, partnership had no effect on CRP. CRP varied significantly with socioeconomic status (higher in better-off than in poorer women). Conclusions and implications: These findings suggest that the cycle-specific effect of inflammation on ovarian function may be a flexible, adaptive mechanism for managing trade-offs between reproduction and immunity. Sociosexual behavior may moderate changes in inflammation across the ovarian cycle, suggesting that these shifts represent evolved mechanisms to manage the trade-offs between reproduction and immunity. Clinically, these findings support considering both menstrual cycle phase and sexual activity in evaluations of pre-menopausal women’s CRP concentrations

Homeless street children in Nepal : use of allostatic load to assess the burden of childhood adversity.

As challenges to child well-being through economic disadvantage, family disruption, and migration or displacement escalate world wide, the need for cross-culturally robust understanding of childhood adversity proportionately increases. Toward this end, developmental risk was assessed in four contrasting groups of 107 Nepali children ages 10–14 years that represent distinctive, common conditions in which contemporary children grow up. Relative cumulative burden (allostatic load) indexed by multiple dimensions of physical and psychosocial stress was ascertained among homeless street boys and three family-based groups, from poor urban squatter settlements, urban middle class, and a remote rural village. Biomarkers of stress and vulnerability to stress included growth status, salivary cortisol, antibodies to Epstein–Barr virus, acute phase inflammatory responses (alpha1-antichymotrypsin), and cardiovascular fitness and reactivity (flex heart rate and pressor response). Individual biomarkers of risk and allostatic load differed markedly among groups, were highest in villagers, and varied by components of allostatic load. Such data suggest a need for critical appraisal of homelessness and migration as a risk factor to youth, given prevailing local conditions such as rural poverty, and represents the only multidimensional study of childhood allostatic load and developmental risk in non-Western settings

Interpersonal violence and suicidality among former child soldiers and war-exposed civilian children in Nepal.

Background: Suicide risk reduction is crucial for 15-29-year-old youth, who account for 46% of suicide deaths in low- and middle-income countries. Suicide predictors in high-resource settings, specifically depression, do not adequately predict suicidality in these settings. We explored if interpersonal violence (IPV) was associated with suicidality, independent of depression, in Nepal. Methods: A longitudinal cohort of child soldiers and matched civilian children, enrolled in 2007 after the People\u27s War in Nepal, were re-interviewed in 2012. The Depression Self-Rating Scale and Composite International Diagnostic Interview assessed depression and suicidality, respectively. Non-verbal response cards were used to capture experiences of sexual and physical IPV. Results: One of five participants (19%) reported any lifetime suicidal ideation, which was associated with sexual IPV, female gender, former child soldier status and lack of support from teachers. Among young men, the relationship between sexual IPV and suicidality was explained by depression, and teacher support reduced suicidality. Among young women, sexual IPV was associated with suicidality, independent of depression; child soldier status increased suicidality, and teacher support decreased suicidality. Suicide plans were associated with sexual IPV but not with depression. One of 11 female former child soldiers (9%) had attempted suicide. Conclusion: Sexual IPV is associated with suicidal ideation and plans among conflict-affected young women, independent of depression. Reducing suicide risk among women should include screening, care, and prevention programs for sexual IPV. Programs involving teachers may be particularly impactful for reducing suicidality among IPV survivors

Boundary Crossing by a Community of Practice: Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries Engage Science Education

As a globalized world struggles with division and disinformation, engaging across difference has emerged as a major challenge to communication and collaborative action needed to address growing global challenges. As such, the initiative by Tibetan Buddhist leaders to incorporate western science in curricula for monastic education may serve as an important case study that illuminates the conditions and processes at work in genuine cultural outreach and exchange. That project, spearheaded in the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI), involves reaching out across two quite different communities of practice, Tibetan Buddhism and science, and the willingness and ability of individuals to cross the boundaries between them. In the study reported here, we apply existing understandings of communities of practice and of learning mechanisms that mediate boundary crossing to probe for presence of conditions and processes that promote effective outreach among Tibetan Buddhist monastic students. We deploy analysis of qualitative survey, interview, and self-report data from monastic students shortly after ETSI began (2009) and after science education had been rolled out in the monasteries (2019) to, first, identify initial cultural conditions related to outreach and engagement with science, and, second, probe for post-rollout presence of boundary crossing learning mechanisms among monastic students which facilitate communication from one community of practice to another. We found a range of robust initial cultural conditions (e.g., perceived overlap in subjects and methods of inquiry), along with strong presence of mechanisms that facilitate boundary crossing (e.g., reflection, transformation) and operate through time. We observed cascading effects of these conditions and mechanisms on student engagement with science. Furthermore, interactions of these conditions and mechanisms allow monastic students to engage with science on their own Buddhist terms and to regard learning science as potentially beneficial rather than threatening to their personal or collective Buddhist goals

Emory-Tibet Science Initiative: Changes in Monastic Science Learning Motivation and Engagement During a Six-Year Curriculum

Led by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the initiative taken by the Tibetan Buddhist monastic community to connect with western science and scientists presents a unique opportunity to understand the motivations and engagement behaviors that contribute to monastic science learning. In this study, we draw on quantitative data from two distinct surveys that track motivations and engagement behaviors related to science education among monastic students. The first survey was administered at one monastic university in 2018, and the second follow-up survey was completed by students at two monastic universities in 2019. These surveys assessed the reception of science education related to motivations among monastics and their demonstration of engagement-with-science behaviors. We also tested for variation over time by surveying students in all years of the science curriculum. We identified that monastic students are motivated by their perception that studying science has an overall positive effect and benefits their Buddhist studies, rather than negatively affecting their personal or collective Buddhist goals. In accordance with this finding, monastics behave in ways that encourage fellow scholars to engage with science concepts. Survey responses were disaggregated by years of science study and indicated changes in motivation and engagement during the six-year science curriculum. These insights support the relevance of considering motivation and engagement in a novel educational setting and inform ongoing work to expand the inclusiveness of science education. Our findings provide direction for future avenues of enhancing exchange of knowledge and practice between Buddhism and science

Boundary Crossing by a Community of Practice: Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries Engage Science Education

As a globalized world struggles with division and disinformation, engaging across difference has emerged as a major challenge to communication and collaborative action needed to address growing global challenges. As such, the initiative by Tibetan Buddhist leaders to incorporate western science in curricula for monastic education may serve as an important case study that illuminates the conditions and processes at work in genuine cultural outreach and exchange. That project, spearheaded in the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI), involves reaching out across two quite different communities of practice, Tibetan Buddhism and science, and the willingness and ability of individuals to cross the boundaries between them. In the study reported here, we apply existing understandings of communities of practice and of learning mechanisms that mediate boundary crossing to probe for presence of conditions and processes that promote effective outreach among Tibetan Buddhist monastic students. We deploy analysis of qualitative survey, interview, and self-report data from monastic students shortly after ETSI began (2009) and after science education had been rolled out in the monasteries (2019) to, first, identify initial cultural conditions related to outreach and engagement with science, and, second, probe for post-rollout presence of boundary crossing learning mechanisms among monastic students which facilitate communication from one community of practice to another. We found a range of robust initial cultural conditions (e.g., perceived overlap in subjects and methods of inquiry), along with strong presence of mechanisms that facilitate boundary crossing (e.g., reflection, transformation) and operate through time. We observed cascading effects of these conditions and mechanisms on student engagement with science. Furthermore, interactions of these conditions and mechanisms allow monastic students to engage with science on their own Buddhist terms and to regard learning science as potentially beneficial rather than threatening to their personal or collective Buddhist goals

Found in Translation: Collaborative Contemplations of Tibetan Buddhism and Western Science

Development of an inclusive scientific community necessitates doing more than simply bringing science to diverse groups of people. Ideally, the sciences evolve through incorporation of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and worldviews. Efforts to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, and socioeconomic groups among science scholars are currently underway. Examination of these efforts yields valuable lessons to inform next steps in engaging diverse audiences with science. The Emory-Tibet Science Initiative may serve as one example of such efforts. The Dalai Lama invited Emory University to develop and teach a curriculum in Western science to Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns. As the science curriculum has been taught and refined over the past decade, monastic scholars increasingly have taken ownership of the material. As Western scientific ideas and practices take hold in this setting, the experiences of monks and nuns offer unique insights into the process of translation, modes of communication, and long-term impacts of integrating diverse systems of knowledge. Given that the dominant language of science is English, Tibetan interpreters have been essential throughout the implementation of this project. Through the process of translating scientific terms, interpreters have considered differences in how words categorize, and therefore how people conceptualize, the world. Through comprehensive, culturally-responsive communication, scientific language is used as a tool to build and strengthen connections between monastics and their local and global communities. The intertwining of these complementary systems of knowledge iteratively informs translation, modes of communication, and broader impacts in the community

Psychological and Environmental Correlates of HPA Axis Functioning in Parentally Bereaved Children: Preliminary Findings

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97514/1/jts21788.pd

Children with Both Asthma and Depression Are at Risk for Heightened Inflammation

To test whether children and adolescents with co-occurring asthma and depression are at risk for elevated inflammation—concurrently and at the next assessment