Biological Necessity Research Articles

Content validation of a test battery for assessing sleep quality in adolescents in Slovenia

Abstract Background Sleep constitutes a fundamental biological necessity, occupying approximately one-third of our lifespan. Consequently, the field of sleep research has experienced an increase in interest, prompted by the recognition of insufficient sleep as a significant public health challenge. As the majority of existing questionnaires in Slovenia have yet to undergo official translation and validation processes, the aim of our study was to conduct content validation of a questionnaire designed to assess the sleep quality among adolescents. Methods We developed a test battery for assessing the sleep quality of adolescents by combining a diverse array of questionnaires. We employed the Adolescent Sleep-Wake Scale, Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale, Epworth Sleepiness Scale for Children and Adolescents, and Children’s Morningness-Eveningness Scale. Following the development of the entire test battery, a process of back-translation from English to Slovene occurred, followed by cultural adaptation. Results The designed questionnaire underwent content validation by a panel of 10 experts drawn from diverse disciplines. Evaluation of questionnaire items followed a planned methodology tailored for the content validation of measurement instruments, focusing on content relevance, clarity, and classification into subscales or factors. Our analysis revealed that the individual questionnaires demonstrate content validity, supported by notably high indices of content validity. Conclusions Translated questionnaires demonstrate decent content validity, thus rendering them valid clinical and research tools for assessing sleep quality in adolescents in Slovenia. Key messages • Our research indicates the availability of content-valid tools for sleep research. • Further investigation is needed to determine the reliability, specificity, sensitivity, and appropriateness of the factorial structure of measures for the quality of sleep.

MATES: a deep learning-based model for locus-specific quantification of transposable elements in single cell

Transposable elements (TEs) are crucial for genetic diversity and gene regulation. Current single-cell quantification methods often align multi-mapping reads to either ‘best-mapped’ or ‘random-mapped’ locations and categorize them at the subfamily levels, overlooking the biological necessity for accurate, locus-specific TE quantification. Moreover, these existing methods are primarily designed for and focused on transcriptomics data, which restricts their adaptability to single-cell data of other modalities. To address these challenges, here we introduce MATES, a deep-learning approach that accurately allocates multi-mapping reads to specific loci of TEs, utilizing context from adjacent read alignments flanking the TE locus. When applied to diverse single-cell omics datasets, MATES shows improved performance over existing methods, enhancing the accuracy of TE quantification and aiding in the identification of marker TEs for identified cell populations. This development facilitates the exploration of single-cell heterogeneity and gene regulation through the lens of TEs, offering an effective transposon quantification tool for the single-cell genomics community.

Dynamic predictability and activity-location contexts in human mobility.

Human travelling behaviours are markedly regular, to a large extent predictable, and mostly driven by biological necessities and social constructs. Not surprisingly, such predictability is influenced by an array of factors ranging in scale from individual preferences and choices, through social groups and households, all the way to the global scale, such as mobility restrictions in response to external shocks such as pandemics. In this work, we explore how temporal, activity and location variations in individual-level mobility-referred to as predictability states-carry a large degree of information regarding the nature of mobility regularities at the population level. Our findings indicate the existence of contextual and activity signatures in predictability states, suggesting the potential for a more nuanced approach to estimating both short-term and higher-order mobility predictions. The existence of location contexts, in particular, serves as a parsimonious estimator for predictability patterns even in the case of low resolution and missing data.

Ordering molecular diversity in untargeted metabolomics via molecular community networking.

Nature's molecular diversity is not random but displays intricate organization stemming from biological necessity. Molecular networking connects metabolites with structural similarity, enabling molecular discoveries from mass spectrometry data using arbitrary similarity thresholds that can fracture natural metabolite families. We present molecular community networking (MCN), that optimizes connectivity for each metabolite, rescuing lost relationships and capturing otherwise "hidden" metabolite connections. Using MCN, we demonstrate the discovery of novel dipeptide-conjugated bile acids.

A Trilogy of Food, Photography And Social Media: Gastroporn

Eating is a biologically fundamental human activity. However, the real importance of eating stems not from its biological necessity but from its symbolic character. Food and eating also have psychological, social, and political significance. Food is a means by which love and desire are expressed and communicated. In addition, food serves purposes beyond filling the stomach, such as self-construction, identity formation, social status, gaining prestige, showing others who you are, and differentiating from others. In this context, the concept of gastroporn is considered a form of food that has moved away from its true meaning and undergone a shift in meaning and is expressed as aesthetic images of unattainable pleasure that replace real food. The presentation and visualization of the food, the preparation of the food, and the kitchen materials used often become more important than the food itself. Changing the existing image of the food and serving it with presentations that can emphasize the feelings and emotions of the consumer is the main reason underlying gastroporn. Although the pairing of food with pornography in the classical sense may sound repulsive and irreconcilable at first, the fact that the artistic aspect rather than the food itself comes to the fore in the dishes made with artistic mastery by the chefs in the kitchen, the "irresistible" erotic connotations of some ingredients and the professional photography of all these reveal the similarities between food and pornography. The sexual connotations of foods such as a burst yolk, a runny chocolate bar, and the elongation of hot cheese, bananas, ice cream, etc., reinforce the connection between food and pornography. The main thing emphasized in this article is that the concept of gastroporn is a new form of transforming food and that social media and food photography contribute positively to this new form.

Nanoscale Structure, Interactions, and Dynamics of Centromere Nucleosomes.

Centromeres are specific segments of chromosomes comprising two types of nucleosomes: canonical nucleosomes containing an octamer of H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 histones and CENP-A nucleosomes in which H3 is replaced with its analogue CENP-A. This modification leads to a difference in DNA wrapping (∼121 bp), considerably less than 147 bp in canonical nucleosomes. We used atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high-speed AFM (HS-AFM) to characterize nanoscale features and dynamics for both types of nucleosomes. For both nucleosomes, spontaneous asymmetric unwrapping of DNA was observed, and this process occurs via a transient state with ∼100 bp DNA wrapped around the core, followed by a rapid dissociation of DNA. Additionally, HS-AFM revealed higher stability of CENP-A nucleosomes compared with H3 nucleosomes in which dissociation of the histone core occurs prior to the nucleosome dissociation. These results help elucidate the differences between these nucleosomes and the potential biological necessity for CENP-A nucleosomes.

Animal Trouble: Arendt and the Question of Anthropocentrism

Abstract This article examines animals and animality in Hannah Arendt's political thought by focusing on the phenomenological approach she develops in The Life of the Mind. Building on the works of Adolf Portmann and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Arendt invites us to understand the world in terms of the plurality of all living things who appear to each other in anticipation of being perceived in their distinctness. While Arendt's phenomenology is generative for rethinking politics beyond human exclusivity, it also sits uneasily with her anthropocentric claims that risk reducing animals to reactive organisms driven by biological necessity. Mobilizing Arendt's phenomenology against her anthropocentrism, the article outlines a worldly politics in which all living things engage in multitudinous forms of intra- and interspecies encounter, reciprocity, and responsiveness. To illustrate this worldly politics, the article revisits Arendt's famous call for “a right to have rights” and engages with the debates on animal rights.

Robot-based 6D bioprinting for soft tissue biomedical applications.

Within this interdisciplinary study, we demonstrate the applicability of a 6D printer for soft tissue engineering models. For this purpose, a special plant was constructed, combining the technical requirements for 6D printing with the biological necessities, especially for soft tissue. Therefore, a commercial 6D robot arm was combined with a sterilizable housing (including a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter and ultraviolet radiation (UVC) lamps) and a custom-made printhead and printbed. Both components allow cooling and heating, which is desirable for working with viable cells. In addition, a spraying unit was installed that allows the distribution of fine droplets of a liquid. Advanced geometries on uneven or angled surfaces can be created with the use of all six axes. Based on often used bioinks in the field of soft tissue engineering (gellan gum, collagen, and gelatin methacryloyl) with very different material properties, we could demonstrate the flexibility of the printing system. Furthermore, cell-containing constructs using primary human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) could be produced in an automated manner. In addition to cell survival, the ability to differentiate along the adipogenic lineage could also be demonstrated as a representative of soft tissue engineering.

ECDEP: identifying essential proteins based on evolutionary community discovery and subcellular localization

BackgroundIn cellular activities, essential proteins play a vital role and are instrumental in comprehending fundamental biological necessities and identifying pathogenic genes. Current deep learning approaches for predicting essential proteins underutilize the potential of gene expression data and are inadequate for the exploration of dynamic networks with limited evaluation across diverse species.ResultsWe introduce ECDEP, an essential protein identification model based on evolutionary community discovery. ECDEP integrates temporal gene expression data with a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network and employs the 3-Sigma rule to eliminate outliers at each time point, constructing a dynamic network. Next, we utilize edge birth and death information to establish an interaction streaming source to feed into the evolutionary community discovery algorithm and then identify overlapping communities during the evolution of the dynamic network. SVM recursive feature elimination (RFE) is applied to extract the most informative communities, which are combined with subcellular localization data for classification predictions.We assess the performance of ECDEP by comparing it against ten centrality methods, four shallow machine learning methods with RFE, and two deep learning methods that incorporate multiple biological data sources on Saccharomyces. Cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae), Homo sapiens (H. sapiens), Mus musculus, and Caenorhabditis elegans. ECDEP achieves an AP value of 0.86 on the H. sapiens dataset and the contribution ratio of community features in classification reaches 0.54 on the S. cerevisiae (Krogan) dataset.ConclusionsOur proposed method adeptly integrates network dynamics and yields outstanding results across various datasets. Furthermore, the incorporation of evolutionary community discovery algorithms amplifies the capacity of gene expression data in classification.

KONSEP KEADILAN DALAM PRAKTIK POLIGAMI RASULULLAH

This article deals with Polygamy in the Islamic Law Prespective. Polygamy is a man who has more than one to four wives. In the view of Islam, polygamy can be done if it complies with what is clear in the Qur'an, namely, being able to act fair, fair. Then the number of wives may be maximum of four, does not neglect worship of Allah, can keep the honour of his wives, and there is no brotherhood between the former wife and the future wife to be married. Prophet's polygamy is different from what we see today. The practise of the Prophet's polygamy here is not based on biological necessities, but there are some considerations among them wanting to honor a widow, raise the rank of the widows and women who offer themselves for marriage. Nowadays polygamy is based only on biological necessities, and forgetting the element of justice in it. The writing of this article uses library studies/literature studies and qualitative descriptive methods.

Regeneration Plate 3.0 – Improvement and Maintenance of Intestinal Health by Reduction of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation

Background: Sleep is an integral biological necessity and is understood to possess recuperative and regenerative properties. Sleep deprivation has been associated with diseases and an increase in morbidity and mortality. Several recent studies have suggested a strong relation between insufficient sleep and gastrointestinal diseases, especially when triggered by inflammatory processes. Accordingly to these findings it has been reported that sleep deprivation in both humans and experimental animals causes a progressive increase in circulating white blood cells, mainly neutrophils as well as an increase in various circulating proinflammatory molecules. Experimental: Against this background we used cultured intestinal epithelial cells to investigate the positive impact of a specially designed device, Regeneration Plate 3.0, which is positioned under the bed during sleep and is stated to improve systemic health on the cellular level by reducing oxidative stress which acts on the body. The plate produces a vital field with a frequency pool containing all important regeneration frequencies within a radius of 90 cm. The body's own energy field only resonates with those frequencies that are required for an optimal supply of energy to the cells. The field strength of the vital field is adjusted in such a way that the energy system cannot be over-energized. In addition, we also used an in vitro model with inflammation-mediating cells (= functional neutrophils) to examine whether the Regeneration Plate 3.0 might be able to reduce the generation of reactive oxygen radicals during an inflammatory process. Results: The results demonstrate that the Regeneration Plate 3.0 was able to reduce oxidative stress acting on intestinal epithelial cells. After 24 hours, the percentage of surviving cells after exposure to 2 mM hydrogen peroxide and the Regeneration Plate 3.0 for 8 hours was 27.7 ± 5.7%, while the viability of the untreated control cells was 14.7 ± 2.9% (mean values ± standard deviations). The difference between both experimental groups was statistically highly significant at the p ≤ 0.01 level. Moreover, the generation of superoxide anion radicals by functional neutrophils was reduced by nearly 50% in comparison to untreated control cells. Again, the difference between both groups was statistically highly significant at the p ≤ 0.01 level. Conclusions: Both beneficial effects of the Regeneration Plate 3.0 shown in the present in vitro study can act on the body during sleep and might enhance not only intestinal health, but also systemic health and well-being.

КАЧЕСТВО СНА, КАК ФАКТОР РИСКА СЕРДЕЧНО-СОСУДИСТЫХ ЗАБОЛЕВАНИЙ СРЕДИ ЛИЦ ТРУДОСПОСОБНОГО ВОЗРАСТА

Introduction. The World Health Organization has put healthy sleep on a par with such important indicators as the state of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, the level of immune defense, body resistance, etc. (WHO, 2013). As you know, sleep takes up about a third of our lives. Sleep is a biological necessity (Shea SA., 2009). Sleep disorders are one of the most common psychogenic conditions in humans and are defined as a lack of quantity, rhythm or quality of sleep (ICD-10, DSM-IV), which is necessary for normal life About 30% of the population has periodic sleep disturbances, about 10% of the adult population suffers from chronic insomnia, which has already become an epidemic of the new millennium (Centre for Disease and Control and Prevention, CDC, 2018). Since the beginning of the 80s, publications began to appear on the effect of sleep disturbance on the cardiovascular system. Although sleep is an outwardly seemingly passive state of the body, nevertheless, there are many pathophysiological changes that can lead to circulatory disorders, including heart attack and stroke. Purpose of the study: to study the change in self-reported sleep quality over a 30-year period and to assess its relationship with psychosocial risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Materials and methods: Within the framework of five screening studies of the population aged 25-64 years in a typical district of Novosibirsk from 1988 to 2018. 2650 men and 3113 women were examined. The questionnaire “Knowledge and attitude to one's health” was proposed. The study was carried out within the framework of the budgetary topic Reg. No. 122031700094-5. Results: The lowest self-reported sleep was observed among women aged 55 to 64 years - 24.9% (p<0.001). A relationship has been established between the rise in low self-reported sleep and age. Men (4.3%) and women (5.7%) of young age from 25 to 34 years complained about the quality of sleep the least (p<0.01). On the contrary, complaints about sleep were more common among the representatives of the older age group - among men, 19.7% were dissatisfied with sleep, and among women - 24.9% (p<0.001). The peak of sleep disorders occurred in the late 1980s, then in the mid-1990s there was a decrease in the number of complaints about sleep, then an increase in the zero years in all age groups, except for men from 45 to 54 years (p<0.001). Low self-assessment of sleep quality in two thirds of both sexes was accompanied by a feeling of poor health, an increase in the number of health complaints (p<0.001). A third of men and women who were dissatisfied with their sleep believed that they did not take good care of their health and this could result in a disease of the cardiovascular system. Decreased sleep quality led to distrust in the ability of modern medicine to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases, only 10.9% of men and 13.3% of women trusted doctors (p<0.01). Conclusion: Over the past 30 years, there has been a deterioration in the quality of sleep among the population, with the deterioration of sleep detrimental to cardiovascular health.

The separation distress hypothesis of depression – an update and systematic review

ABSTRACT The separation distress hypothesis of depression, formulated in 2009, offered an affective neuroscience perspective on our most common and costly mental health condition, as an alternative to molecular reductionism in psychiatry. Our hypothesis constituted a neurobiological extension of classic work on depression as intrinsically related to attachment and loss, integrating psychological and neurobiological findings from clinical and preclinical models. We posited three ideas: 1) depression is an evolutionarily conserved vulnerability within the social-affective endowment of mammalian brains, involving interactions between separation distress and other conserved CNS systems; 2) this mechanism adaptively shuts down protracted separation distress, potentially lethal to infant mammals, and thus protective in a circumscribed form, explaining its conservation; 3) this process has no single biological ‘lever’ and is instantiated through complex recursion. Like other conserved processes, it overlaps with kindred processes also serving behavioral shutdown, particularly hibernation and sickness behavior. Epicenters for depression include a large array of systems regulating the CNS and its behavioral/affective states: the stress axis, immune systems, monoamine and cholinergic systems, GABA and glutamate systems, and large molecule pro-social neuropeptide systems, all dynamically linked. This review tracks multiple developments in the last 10 years including growing public health and healthcare awareness about the biological and not just psychological impact of our primary relationships, and its corollary, the neurobiologically destructive effects of trauma, abuse, neglect, and social isolation. Secure attachment is both a psychological and biological necessity, and its loss or traumatic disruption may constitute a fertile ground for depression in all its forms.

Computational concept for human food choice and eating behaviour

An inadequate diet can cause a number of illnesses with some of them posing major threats for humanity. Poor diet largely originates from behavioral and social issues rather than environmental factors. With simulation being a grand tool to analyze and address behavior issues, relatively few studies focus on computational modeling of nutrition at behavioural level. Furthermore, we have overviewed several popular approaches to computational modeling and simulating dietary decision-making and found no clear favorite. Further still, modelers rarely pay attention to one of the key behavioural factors – motivation. In the vast majority of models, either motivation is assumed to be exogenously given and, hence, is left out of the model, or motivation is not taken into account in any form, even though ignoring incentives significantly reduces adaptive capabilities of any human-like goal-directed model entity. We aimed to outline a modelling approach that would fit into the food choice topic and would improve on the available models. This implies offering an intelligible algorithm that would be easily applied to statistical data yet offering a depth of analysis despite its seeming simplicity. Thus, we present our view of the food choice simulation problem which employs eating incentives and an original choice mechanism that is different both from traditional maximizing approaches common to economics and artificial intelligence research and from the dominant psychological computational approaches. We outlined the programming conceptual algorithm that involves sequential incentive (which can result from the biological necessities, social, intellectual or spiritual needs alike) selection, incentive-foodstuff coupling (a relation can be either fixed or dynamic) and elimination of undesirable food options based on incentives ranking (qualitative ranking seems to be preferable over quantitative ranking, forasmuch as it resembles the way of thinking of a regular person more closely) supplemented by pseudocode segments. The algorithm suits agent-based simulation paradigm, yet it is not tied to it and can be fitted with other simulation approaches as well. The algorithm is supposed to be implemented in Java. Since the offered algorithm is conceptual it requires an implementation to bring about robust conclusions which is our goal to reach next.

Pediatric Sleep Respiratory Disorders: A Narrative Review of Epidemiology and Risk Factors

Sleep is a fundamental biological necessity, the lack of which has severe repercussions on the mental and physical well-being in individuals of all ages. The phrase “sleep-disordered breathing (SDB)” indicates a wide array of conditions characterized by snoring and/or respiratory distress due to increased upper airway resistance and pharyngeal collapsibility; these range from primary snoring to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and occur in all age groups. In the general pediatric population, the prevalence of OSA varies between 2% and 5%, but in some particular clinical conditions, it can be much higher. While adenotonsillar hypertrophy (“classic phenotype”) is the main cause of OSA in preschool age (3–5 years), obesity (“adult phenotype”) is the most common cause in adolescence. There is also a “congenital–structural” phenotype that is characterized by a high prevalence of OSA, appearing from the earliest ages of life, supported by morpho-structural abnormalities or craniofacial changes and associated with genetic syndromes such as Pierre Robin syndrome, Prader-Willi, achondroplasia, and Down syndrome. Neuromuscular disorders and lysosomal storage disorders are also frequently accompanied by a high prevalence of OSA in all life ages. Early recognition and proper treatment are crucial to avoid major neuro-cognitive, cardiovascular, and metabolic morbidities.

Humans have a basic physical and psychological need to move the body: Physical activity as a primary drive.

Physical activity, while less necessary for survival in modern times, is still essential for thriving in life, and low levels of movement are related to numerous physical and mental health problems. However, we poorly understand why people move on a day-to-day basis and how to promote greater energy expenditure. Recently, there has been a turn to understand automatic processes with close examination of older theories of behavior. This has co-occurred with new developments in the study of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). In this narrative review, it is hypothesized that psycho-physiological drive is important to understand movement in general and NEAT, specifically. Drive, in short, is a motivation state, characterized by arousal and felt tension, energizing the organism to acquire a basic need. Movement is a biological necessity, like food, water, and sleep, but varies across the lifespan and having the greatest impact before adolescence. Movement meets various criteria for a primary drive: (a) deprivation of it produces feelings of tension, such as an urge or craving, known as affectively-charged motivation states, and particularly the feelings of being antsy, restless, hyper or cooped up, (b) provision of the need quickly reduces tension - one can be satiated, and may even over-consume, (c) it can be provoked by qualities of the environment, (d) it is under homeostatic control, (e) there is an appetite (i.e., appetence) for movement but also aversion, and (f) it has a developmental time course. Evidence for drive has mainly come from children and populations with hyperkinetic disorders, such as those with anorexia nervosa, restless legs syndrome, and akathisia. It is also stimulated in conditions of deprivation, such as bed rest, quarantine, long flights, and physical restraint. It seems to be lacking in the hypokinetic disorders, such as depression and Parkinson's. Thus, drive is associated with displeasure and negative reinforcement, subsuming it within the theory of hedonic drive, but it may fit better within new paradigms, such as the WANT model (Wants and Aversions for Neuromuscular Tasks). Recently developed measurement tools, such as the CRAVE scale, may permit the earnest investigation of movement drive, satiation, and motivation states in humans.

Integrating sleep health into resilience research.

Sleep is a biological necessity that is a critical determinant of mental and physical well-being. Sleep may promote resilience by enhancing an individual's biological preparedness to resist, adapt and recover from a challenge or stressor. This report analyzes currently active National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants focussed on sleep and resilience, specifically examining the design of studies that explore sleep as a factor that promotes health maintenance, survivorship, or protective/preventive pathways. A search of NIH R01 and R21 research project grants that received funding in Fiscal Years (FY) 2016-2021 and focussed on sleep and resilience was conducted. A total of 16 active grants from six NIH institutes met the inclusion criteria. Most grants were funded in FY 2021 (68.8%), used the R01 mechanism (81.3%), were observational studies (75.0%), and measured resilience in the context of resisting a stressor/challenge (56.3%). Early adulthood and midlife were most commonly studied and over half of the grants focussed on underserved/underrepresented populations. NIH-funded studies focussed on sleep and resilience, or the ways in which sleep can influence an individual's ability to resist, adapt, or recover from a challenging event. This analysis highlights an important gap and the need to expand research focussed on sleep as a promotor of molecular, physiological, and psychological resilience.

Bottled water contaminant exposures and potential human effects

BackgroundBottled water (BW) consumption in the United States and globally has increased amidst heightened concern about environmental contaminant exposures and health risks in drinking water supplies, despite a paucity of directly comparable, environmentally-relevant contaminant exposure data for BW. This study provides insight into exposures and cumulative risks to human health from inorganic/organic/microbial contaminants in BW. MethodsBW from 30 total domestic US (23) and imported (7) sources, including purified tapwater (7) and spring water (23), were analyzed for 3 field parameters, 53 inorganics, 465 organics, 14 microbial metrics, and in vitro estrogen receptor (ER) bioactivity. Health-benchmark-weighted cumulative hazard indices and ratios of organic-contaminant in vitro exposure-activity cutoffs were assessed for detected regulated and unregulated inorganic and organic contaminants. Results48 inorganics and 45 organics were detected in sampled BW. No enforceable chemical quality standards were exceeded, but several inorganic and organic contaminants with maximum contaminant level goal(s) (MCLG) of zero (no known safe level of exposure to vulnerable sub-populations) were detected. Among these, arsenic, lead, and uranium were detected in 67 %, 17 %, and 57 % of BW, respectively, almost exclusively in spring-sourced samples not treated by advanced filtration. Organic MCLG exceedances included frequent detections of disinfection byproducts (DBP) in tapwater-sourced BW and sporadic detections of DBP and volatile organic chemicals in BW sourced from tapwater and springs. Precautionary health-based screening levels were exceeded frequently and attributed primarily to DBP in tapwater-sourced BW and co-occurring inorganic and organic contaminants in spring-sourced BW. ConclusionThe results indicate that simultaneous exposures to multiple drinking-water contaminants of potential human-health concern are common in BW. Improved understandings of human exposures based on more environmentally realistic and directly comparable point-of-use exposure characterizations, like this BW study, are essential to public health because drinking water is a biological necessity and, consequently, a high-vulnerability vector for human contaminant exposures.

An exploratory study to understand water, sanitation, and hygiene practices and their perceived impact on health status amongst women of reproductive age residing in an urban slum of New Delhi, India

Background: Disadvantaged urban slums in India are prone to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) inadequacies. Due to biological necessities and sociocultural context of India, women remain one of the most vulnerable groups prone to the negative consequences of WASH inadequacies. This study explored the WASH practices among women residing closer to the community-managed toilet (CMT) in the slum locality of South-West Delhi to determine critical linkages to WASH inadequacies that can be used to improve accessibility, usage, and care provided by the CMT. Objectives of the study were to understand the WASH practices and the perceived physical and psychosocial impact on women residing closer to the CMT.Methods: Qualitative study using thematic content analysis. Fee-list interviews and FGD were conducted to collect data to explore the perceived health effects of WASH practices among the women of the community.Results: We found that WASH practices are defined by concerns across multiple dimensions and can lead to adoption of harmful coping strategies. An interplay of sociocultural, infrastructural and household and community level factors acts as mediating factors to limit the usage of WASH facilities which may seemingly look available and accessible to women in disadvantaged urban locations.Conclusions: Access to improved WASH facilities does not imply usage and women are disproportionately burdened by WASH inadequacy. Practices such as reduced eating at night to avoid open defecation and fear of violence threaten women’s physical and psychosocial health and well-being. Priority public health attention should be given to the linkages between women’s health and inadequate WASH practices.

Sleep mediates the relationship between having an autistic child and poor family functioning

Sleep is an important biological necessity, a lack of which can have many cognitive, psychological, social, and physical impacts. Children with autism are known to present with sleep difficulties more frequently than their typically developing peers but despite this, there is relatively little research looking at the impact of sleep on the family. To investigate the effect of sleep on families of autistic and typically developing (TD) children, we conducted a study of sleep disturbances among children, sleep quality of their parents in association with their family function. In our study, 239 parents of autistic children and 227 parents of TD children participated. These parents completed a survey about their child's sleep disturbances, their own sleep quality, and their family function, along with a series of demographic questions. Analyses indicated that autistic children experience more sleep difficulties than TD peers, that children's sleep disturbances are associated with parental sleep quality and that parents of autistic children report decreased sleep quality compared to parents of TD children. Parental sleep quality, and child sleep quality were both found to partially mediate the relationship between autism diagnosis and family function.