Microplastic pollution is a growing environmental concern with an unknown impact on health, particularly as it relates to maternal, neonatal and offspring development. This scoping review maps the available evidence on the effects of microplastics on pregnancy, neonatal, offspring and tissue outcomes. Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have been identified in various human tissues, from amniotic fluid to uterine and placental tissue. Emerging evidence shows that MPs and NPs can cause inflammatory changes and dysfunction in multiple organs, including the intestines, liver, and gonads. A total of 806 studies were identified and imported for screening, of which 348 were eliminated after deduplication. Out of 458 abstracts, 122 abstracts moved forward into full-text review. Following the application of exclusion criteria, 53 studies underwent extraction. These studies were extracted for the following outcomes: pregnancy (5), placental (13), embryogenesis (5), fetal tissue (19), offspring (14) and neonatal outcomes (9). Broadly, the most common outcomes included changes in fetal development and birth weight, disturbances in metabolism and signaling pathways, and differences in gene expression in MP-NP exposed groups compared to control groups. Further research amongst human participants should be conducted to determine if MP-NP exposure has significant clinical effects on pregnancy and fetal outcomes.
In the United States, superintendents and school board members serve an important role in the local implementation and enactment of policies in schools. Recently, these roles have received increased attention, both in media and in research, due to a nationwide trend of increased partisanship and focus on nationalized issues. However, conducting studies of members of the politically elite can be challenging. This mixed-methods descriptive case study investigates the accessibility and response patterns of superintendents and school board members in Tennessee through a survey of policy perspectives administered in Spring 2023. Overall, superintendents were more accessible and more willing to begin the survey; however, they were also more likely to end the survey or skip potentially contentious questions once the survey required respondents to share policy perspectives.
Objective This study explores the parenting experiences of transnational parents from three English-speaking Caribbean countries: Grenada, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.Background While transnational parenting has been well studied in other contexts, research on Caribbean parents remains limited, underscoring the need for further exploration into the experiences of these families.Method Ten parents (six mothers and four fathers) participated in the study; all of whom self-identified as immigrants from the Black English-speaking Caribbean. Participants had migrated to the United States or Canada, leaving one or more children behind in their home country. Parents were recruited via word of mouth and publicly accessible Caribbean community groups on social media. Semistructured interviews were video-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed.Results We derived six themes: (a) reliance on family caregivers, (b) communication and connection, (c) commitment to education, (d) financial support and resource management, (e) emotional distress, and (f) joint parenting roles and family conflicts.Conclusion These findings highlight the emotional, financial, and family relationship stressors faced by Caribbean transnational mothers and fathers, as well as their resilience and adaptive strategies in long-distance parenting.Implications The study underscores the need for support systems to strengthen parent-child relationships, improve financial transparency, and assist families in managing transnational caregiving dynamics. These insights are particularly valuable for family scholars and practitioners working with Caribbean families, informing strategies to better support transnational parenting dynamics.
Assessing support for political violence in the United States remains a major point of focus. However, generating reliable population-level estimates of support for political violence has proven difficult. In this study, we fielded a split-ballot survey experiment comparing two measures of support for political violence. Specifically, we examine support for abstract and unspecified forms of political violence, as well as the willingness to engage in concrete actions, such as damaging property, to support political goals. As expected, we find greater support for abstract political violence than for a personal willingness to engage in political violence. In our multivariable analyses, we found that younger people were more likely to endorse both expressions of political violence. Regarding political ideology and party identification, we found a complex set of results. While the results related to ideology suggest people who identify as "very liberal" were more likely to endorse both expressions of political violence, party identification showed that independents, not Democrats or Republicans, were more likely to endorse both expressions of political violence. As such, we argue that alienation from conventional political parties is an important feature that deserves more attention.
Changes in brain [NADPH]/[NADP+] and [NAD+]/[NADH] may contribute to aging. Anti-aging dietary restriction (DR) and intermittent fasting (IF) alter redox states that may contribute to their longevity effects. Pyruvate/lactate and acetoacetate/beta-hydroxybutyrate are indicators of the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial [NAD+]/[NADH], respectively, while the malate/pyruvate and isocitrate/alpha-ketoglutarate are indicators of the cytoplasmic [NADPH]/[NADP+]. Using these metabolite-pair ratios as redox indicators, the C57BL/6J mouse brain showed opposite redox changes with aging to the C57BL/6N mouse brain and human brain in the cytoplasmic [NAD+]/[NADH] and [NADPH]/[NADP+]. Fasting caused universal reductive shifts in the brain cytoplasmic [NAD+]/[NADH] and [NADPH]/[NADP+] and mitochondrial [NAD+]/[NADH]. The reductive shift in the cytoplasmic [NAD+]/[NADH] with fasting was opposite to that occurring with anti-aging ketone ester supplementation or ketogenic diet, which have been shown to cause an oxidative shift of the cytoplasmic [NAD+]/[NADH], but a reductive shift of the cerebral cortical cytoplasmic [NADPH]/[NADP+]. Several pathways that influence redox metabolism and aging are discussed, including fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis, the citric acid cycle, fatty acid beta-oxidation, glutaminolysis, the malate-aspartate shuttle, the glycerol-3-phosphate shuttle, the citrate-pyruvate shuttle, and the citrate-alpha-ketoglutarate shuttle. Brain proteome, brain single-cell RNA-Seq, and brain-region-specific bulk RNA-Seq data sets of aging and DR were examined, focusing on the pathways listed above to determine how they might contribute to the redox changes. Intermittent fasting has been shown to induce cyclic metabolic switching that contributes to neuroprotection and other health benefits resulting in delayed aging, while cyclic reductive redox shifts, especially in mitochondria, may be a driver of the beneficial effects.
