Regression to the mean in latent change score models: an example involving breastfeeding and intelligence

Latent change score models are often used to study change over time in observational data. However, latent change score models may be susceptible to regression to the mean. In the present study, we investigate regression to the mean in the case of breastfeeding and intelligence of children. Earlier observational studies have identified a positive association between breastfeeding and child intelligence, even when adjusting for maternal intelligence. Here, we used latent change score modeling to analyze intergenerational change in intelligence, both from mothers to children and backward from children to mothers, in the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) dataset (N = 6283). When analyzing change from mothers to children, breastfeeding was found to have a positive association with intergenerational change in intelligence, whereas when analyzing backward change from children to mothers, a negative association was found. These discrepant findings highlight a hidden flexibility in the analytical space and call into question the reliability of earlier studies of breastfeeding and intelligence using observational data.

Intergenerational adaptations to stress are evolutionarily conserved, stress-specific, and have deleterious trade-offs

Despite reports of parental exposure to stress promoting physiological adaptations in progeny in diverse organisms, there remains considerable debate over the significance and evolutionary conservation of such multigenerational effects. Here, we investigate four independent models of intergenerational adaptations to stress in C. elegans - bacterial infection, eukaryotic infection, osmotic stress and nutrient stress - across multiple species. We found that all four intergenerational physiological adaptations are conserved in at least one other species, that they are stress-specific, and that they have deleterious trade-offs in mismatched environments. By profiling the effects of parental bacterial infection and osmotic stress exposure on progeny gene expression across species we established a core set of 587 genes that exhibited a greater than 2-fold intergenerational change in expression in response to stress in C. elegans and at least one other species, as well as a set of 37 highly conserved genes that exhibited a greater than 2-fold intergenerational change in expression in all four species tested. Furthermore, we provide evidence suggesting that presumed adaptive and deleterious intergenerational effects are molecularly related at the gene expression level. Lastly, we found that none of the effects we detected of these stresses on C. elegans F1 progeny gene expression persisted transgenerationally three generations after stress exposure. We conclude that intergenerational responses to stress play a substantial and evolutionarily conserved role in regulating animal physiology and that the vast majority of the effects of parental stress on progeny gene expression are reversible and not maintained transgenerationally.

Italian onco-haematological patients’ preferences in bad news communication: a preliminary investigation

Background The manner in which bad news is communicated in oncological contexts can affect patients’ engagement, their coping strategies and therapeutic compliance. Although this topic has been broadly investigated since the nineties, to the best of our knowledge, little has been written about Italian patients’ experiences and preferences concerning what the oncologists should disclose and how they should intimate patients about their health conditions in different stages of oncological disease. Methods In an attempt to fill this gap, an online self-report questionnaire was administered to a sample of Italian onco-haematological patients. Data were analysed both qualitatively (by a content analysis) and quantitatively (by descriptive analysis and Generalized Linear Mixed Model). Results While the majority of patients elected to know the truth during their clinical course, a polarisation between those arguing that the truth be fully disclosed and those claiming that the truth be communicated in a personalised way was observed at the attitude level. Among demographic variables accounted for, age seems to most affect patients’ preferences. Indeed, younger Italian patients decidedly reject concealment of the truth, even when justified by the beneficence principle. This result could be a reaction to some protective and paternalistic behaviours, but it could even reflect a relation according to which the more the age increases the more the fear of knowing rises, or an intergenerational change due to different ways of accessing the information. The qualitative analysis of the final open-ended question revealed three main sources of problems in doctor-patient encounters: scarcity of time, absence of empathy and use of not-understandable language that makes it difficult for patients to assume a more active role. Conclusions The results of the present study, which represents a preliminary step in the subject investigation, will be deployed for the construction and validation of a more sophisticated questionnaire. Better awareness of the Italian onco-haematological patients’ preferences concerning bad news communication and truth-telling could be useful in adopting more suitable medical practices and improving doctor-patient relationships.

Huntingscape

This chapter explores the recasting of Naga hunting traditions in the city. Dimapur is an enclave of tribal territory surrounded by Assam on three sides. Hunting expeditions bring hunters from the city into Assam’s territory, where they come into contact with different security forces, other hunters, insurgents, and otherworldly spirits. And while intergenerational change and urbanization have reduced the desire to hunt, for many urban residents hunting is a way to maintain their connections to the village, blurring urban and rural boundaries. Meanwhile in the city, the debate on selling dog meat has reconfigured human–animal relationships in a different way. The pressure to ban the sale of dog meat and make Dimapur more city-like has been met with both opposition and approval. The dog meat debate demonstrates that the fringes (where hunters live) and the centre (of trade and market) are both founded on tribal authority and identity, with the urban landscape taking form around these.

Intergenerational transfer of health inequalities: exploration of mechanisms in the Birth to Twenty cohort in South Africa

South Africa’s history of colonialism and Apartheid contributed to its extreme levels of inequality. Twenty-five years after the transition to democracy, socio-economic and health inequalities continue to rank among the highest in the world. The Birth to Twenty+ study follows a cohort born in urban Johannesburg in 1990 through their early lives and into young adulthood. Also known as ‘Mandela’s Children’, these ‘children of the ‘90s’ were the first generation to be raised in a democratic society, whose elected government implemented policies to achieve greater socio-economic and health equality. Correlating early life outcomes to those of their parents provides a baseline estimate of intergenerational transmission of historical inequality. Analyses of their early life course indicates the potential breakdown in inequality in the first generation. This paper provides an overview of empirical results on intergenerational change in socio-economic status and health during South Africa’s political transition. Access to infrastructural services improved, and poverty reduced following the rapid expansion of unconditional cash transfers mainly to children and pensioners. However, unemployment remained high and job discrimination continued. Inequalities in health follow similar patterns, and progress did not equate to convergence. Some catch-up physical growth occurred—both across groups and over time—but not sufficient to bridge cognitive inequalities. Socio-economic and health inequalities continued as the children of the ‘90s reached young adulthood. Based on knowledge of other transitions, it is likely that these inequalities will only start to break down in later generations, provided social and economic progress holds steady.

How Many Classes Are There?

To examine the elements of social mobility, especially the intergenerational change in social position, requires the establishment of an appropriate schema that captures social class position across generations. This chapter summarizes the major debates surrounding the definition of social class, with a specific focus on class in the Indian context. So far there is little consistent effort to map the possible classes in Indian society. This chapter discusses the conceptualisation of class and its operationalisation in terms of a class schema. The focus is on a possible ‘objective’ measure of class in the Indian context.

Change and Continuity in Kassena Men's Perceptions of Family Planning in Northern Ghana

Studies suggest that men's perceptions of family planning in sub-Saharan Africa would be improved if they were included more extensively in family planning programs. However, few studies capture how men's views change over time and what processes are responsible for these shifts. Examining the processes that underpin men's shifting family formation strategies is essential in order to understand the impact of family planning programs. This research, framed by a political economy of fertility approach that draws on life history data, highlights intergenerational change and continuity in men's perceptions of family planning in Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region of Ghana, where a family planning program involving men was implemented in the 1990s. Eight months of ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in rural village and clinic settings in 2013 and 2014. We find that men's sense of responsibility for the cost of schooling, against a changing economic backdrop, as well as shifts toward “companionate marriage” are among the most salient factors contributing to their growing approval of family planning. This study highlights the importance of paying attention to changes in the larger socioeconomic context that encourage men's acceptance of family planning. We argue that programs incorporating men should move beyond health education to consider broader social and economic drivers of attitudinal change.