The discipline of anthropology has a long history of investigating the social and structural determinants of health, health inequities, and structural vulnerability, particularly in the field of medical anthropology (Quesada et al. 2011; Bourgois et al. 2017). More recently, increased emphasis on the forms and mechanisms of structural vulnerability experienced among marginalized populations has emerged among biological anthropologists, especially in more collaborative projects that integrate ethnographic approaches with analyses of the ways lived experiences of violence may be embodied in the hard tissues of the skeleton and dentition (Winburn et al. 2022).

In this paper, we describe recent efforts to strengthen interdisciplinarity in biocultural investigations of structural vulnerability, and advocate for increased engagement across anthropology subdisciplines to leverage the unique contributions of all to better understand and identify the structural causes of excess morbidity and mortality among individuals. We highlight research from scholars across subdisciplines, interrogating emergent biocultural linkages among forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology, human biology, and cultural and medical anthropology. From these scholarly contributions, we consider some emerging research directions, ethical questions, and potential applications, including structural vulnerability assessment tools (Bourgois et al. 2017) and developing training modules to build structural competency among health care professionals (Neff et al. 2020). Finally, we discuss the beginning phases of a multi-country comparative project of the social and structural determinants of antemortem tooth loss and other serious dental pathologies in Senegal, Honduras, and the United States, to illuminate the potential of inter-subdisciplinary collaborations in structural vulnerability and population health.

The concept of structural vulnerability explores how social, economic and political hierarchies produce and pattern poor health. This concept is increasingly being used by biological anthropologists, particularly forensic anthropologists, to investigate the skeletal manifestations of violence and inequitable social systems in the past. Yet, human biologists have yet to utilize this concept in theoretical or applied manners. In this session, we propose that the concept of structural vulnerability can also be usefully applied in the sub-discipline of human biology in order to link larger political-economic, social, and environmental stressors to variation in human life experiences and biological functioning. To make this argument, we discuss prior work on the use of structural vulnerability in fields adjacent to human biology, including bioarchaeology, forensic and medical anthropology. In this paper, we make specific recommendations for how human biologists might productively engage with this concept in their investigations - including using the structural vulnerability as a theoretical framework and as a methodological guide to link larger political-economic structures to biological functioning.

The everyday violence of structural sexism is visible in the differential prevalence and severity of some health outcomes linked to structurally gendered contexts. Conceptually rooted in structural racism, structural sexism denotes “the inequitable gendered distribution of power, status, resources, rights, roles, exposures, and opportunities” that comprise societally ingrained gender structures (Homan 2021). Vehicular testing, clinical research, and increasingly restrictive and harmful reproductive healthcare in the U.S. illustrate a fraction of the kinds of gendered policies and institutions that can negatively affect women’s health.

While structural vulnerability has increasingly been applied across anthropological subdisciplines, structural sexism has been primarily concentrated in sociology. In this paper, I demonstrate how anthropologists might further engage with structural sexism, using research of intimate partner violence (IPV) as a case example. By analyzing localized, ethnographic research at a domestic violence shelter in Northwest Florida, I aim to capture the myriad granular aspects of structural sexism and gender-based violence that affect individuals within their local realities. I use research on IPV as a conceptual tool to understand how structural sexism is experienced by women seeking services, including the embodied consequences of experiences of inequitable wealth and gendered stigmatization. I also engage concepts of care and resilience to critically examine systems of localized knowledge and care, describing how employees and volunteers use their own survivor positionalities to effectively practice informed care as survivor-advocates. I support the use of emerging interdisciplinary approaches to structural vulnerability in human biological research, enriching discourse surrounding structural determinants of human health and biology.

Structural vulnerability builds on structural violence—the theory that inequitable social systems enact violence against human bodies—to describe how individuals with particular positionalities are at greater risk for negative health outcomes. In forensic anthropology, structural vulnerability approaches enable a shift from the discipline’s traditional focus on individual identifications to allow the recognition of population-level patterns in casework. Acknowledging poor skeletal/dental health to be caused by upstream, societal-level influences, not the behavioral factors often perceived as individual choices, enables the reporting of socially produced patterns of suffering to the State.

This research investigated one such pattern—the correlation between poverty and antemortem tooth loss (AMTL)—using a sample of 345 identified, anonymized forensic case decedents of kin-documented age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status (SES) with CT imagery curated in the New Mexico Decedent Image Database (Black female/male n=57; Hispanic female/male n=100; Indigenous female/male n=88; white female/male n=100). CT images were analyzed for AMTL; Wilcoxon signed-rank tests assessed distributional differences between low- and high-SES groups within each gender and race category.

Median AMTL was almost always higher in low-SES individuals than age-matched high-SES individuals—statistically significantly so for Black males (p=0.0006), white females (p<0.0001), and white males (p=0.04). This pattern was reproduced for edentulism (complete AMTL), with low-SES groups exhibiting between 8-25% edentulism, versus 0-8% in high-SES groups.

The poor dental health evidenced among people living in poverty can be rectified with changes to social policy and medical infrastructure. Structural vulnerability highlights problems that are socially created, and thus also solvable.

One of the many challenges associated with housing insecurity is access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. People experiencing houselessness (PEH) report that food insecurity is a source of significant strain on mental and physical wellbeing, yet very little research has empirically investigated how food insecurity and its associated stressors are associated with health among PEH. Food insecurity is known to negatively impact physical health outcomes and has been associated with higher measures of allostatic load. The present study explores relationships between allostatic load and food insecurity among PEH in a mid-sized city with a high per-capita level of houselessness. Food insecurity was assessed using the USDA’s adult food insecurity module, while allostatic load was assessed with blood pressure, lipids (total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides), HbA1c, and hemoglobin from point-of-care devices, C-reactive protein measured from dried blood spot samples, and cortisol measured from hair samples. Preliminary analysis of participant data (n=147) showed that 73% of participants cut the size of meals or skipped meals, and 61.2% of participants did not eat for a whole day because there wasn’t enough money for food. Biomarker data from this sample demonstrated that 78% of participants met the criteria for hypertension and 9% for diabetes. Future analyses will include regression analysis controlling for housing status, use of food stamps, and length of time living with housing insecurity. Results will address how food insecurity and embodied psychosocial stress are related among PEH.

Parental investment has been theorized in evolutionary anthropology to be undergoing optimization by natural selection for maximizing inclusive fitness while variation in such investment behavior exists due to socio-ecological differences. While market integration has been predicted to influence parents to invest more in their offspring, environmental risk--particularly risks that are beyond the control of parents--has been predicted to influence parents to invest less. We test the relative influence of these two socioecological drivers of parental investment in relation to child health and education.

We use sociodemographic surveys and anthropometric measurements of 80 mothers and education data and anthropometric measurements of 134 of their children aged 0 to 19 from 4 purposively sampled villages from Chakaria, Bangladesh which vary in terms of their levels of market integration (MI) and environmental risk (ER) (high MI high ER, high MI low ER, low MI high ER, low MI high ER).

We conduct multiple linear regression to observe the influence of MI (measured by distance from market, ownership of consumer goods and nature of social interactions) and ER (measured by perceived food security and exposure to water salinity, cyclone and floods) on parental investment (measured by time and resource investment) controlling for family structure and family wealth. For the outcomes of child growth, nutrition and education preliminary results suggest positive effects of MI and negative effects of ER. We further investigate (a) whether parental investment mediates these relationships and/or (b) whether there is an interaction between MI and ER.

Both psychosocial stress and current infection can increase the likelihood of reactivation of latent Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). Pregnancy and infection with COVID-19 can be stressful and suppress immune function. However, it has not yet been examined how COVID-19 infection and stress may interact among recently postpartum women to affect EBV reactivation.

We examined associations between COVID-19 infection, stress, and EBV antibodies in data collected from 45 breastfeeding U.S. women (1-18 months postpartum) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between June 2020-March 2022, stress survey data and capillary dried blood spot (DBS) samples were collected from 25 COVID-19 infected and 20 non-infected participants at multiple time points over the course of 60 days. DBS samples (N = 104) were later assayed for EBV.

The relationships between COVID-19 infection, stress, and EBV were analyzed via alternate mixed-effects regression models, adjusting for time postpartum and time elapsed since recruitment. The effect of COVID-19 status on EBV concentration was negligible, with wide overlapping confidence intervals. Average stress levels were also not consistently associated with EBV levels. Results suggest that EBV concentrations were not substantially elevated within sample participants by the mild COVID-19 infection and moderate stress they experienced.

Recent decades have seen an alarming rise in prevalence of non-communicable diseases in later life, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, type 2 diabetes, kidney and liver disease, and cancer. Here we draw two main insights from the related and complementary perspectives of evolutionary medicine and life history theory to understand this development. Organisms are expected to optimally shift between states of growth/proliferation and maintenance/dormancy depending on nutrient availability/scarcity in their environment. Additionally, there is a mismatch of modern industrialized environments with caloric excess and sedentary behavior contributes to disease development through chronic activation of growth/proliferation and limited activation of maintenance/dormancy. To illustrate this point, we highlight major mechanisms of growth/proliferation (IGF-1, mTOR) and maintenance/dormancy (AMPK, Klotho), including their important functions throughout life and dysfunction in modern health risks. We also propose new research directions based on this perspective, including (1) the study of these pathways in subsistence populations, in which caloric excess and sedentary behavior are limited, (2) potential developmental programming, and (3) their role in linking social inequality to health in industrialized populations. Finally, we make predictions that might benefit therapeutics, including (1) biological degeneracy, in which inhibiting one growth/proliferation pathway might lead to other compensating pathways maintaining activation, (2) balancing activation of growth/proliferation and maintenance/dormancy to avoid introducing different health risks (“Goldilocks zone”), and (3) the greater efficacy of prevention while working with an “in-tact” coordinated system, as opposed to a dysregulated system with full disease progression.

Climate change is intensifying heat stress, water scarcity, and altering hydration dynamics globally. This is of particular concern to vulnerable groups such as women in reproductive roles because dehydration during pregnancy and lactation affects maternal and infant outcomes by impairing prenatal development and decreasing breast milk production. Therefore, understanding how heat stress affects hydration status across reproductive states is crucial. This study explores the relationship between ambient heat stress as indicated by Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) and hydration status measured using urine specific gravity (Usg) among Daasanach semi-nomadic women in northern Kenya. Between 2019 and 2024, 558 observations were collected from 294 women—pregnant, lactating, and non-pregnant non-lactating (NPNL). Results from mixed effects logistic regressions indicate heat stress was associated with a 53% increase in the odds of dehydration (Usg > 1.020) regardless of reproductive status across all years (OR=1.53; 95% CI: 1.24-1.88; p<0.001). Lactating women had higher average Usg values (B=0.0015; 95% CI: 0.000032-0.0030; p=0.045) than their NPNL counterparts. Additionally, compared to NPNL women, lactating women in 2023 and 2024 had a 0.39 point (SE=0.18; p=0.031) increase in heat perception with every 1ºC increase in WBGT; while pregnant women experienced a 0.63 point (SE=0.10; p=0.015) increase in thirst perception, indicated by a greater sensation of mouth dryness. These results illustrate that heat stress significantly impacts hydration and thermal heat perception among lactating and pregnant women, highlighting the need for maternal health interventions that ensure clean water access and mitigate heat stress.

Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and increasingly in the West Bank, began taking the form of a genocide in October 2023. To date, over 7.9% of the population of Gaza has been killed, and thousands of others have faced myriad forms of violence and imminent threats to life, including physical injuries from ballistics, punitive home demolitions, and grotesque forms of torture. These highly traumatic conditions pose severe threats to the mental health and livelihood of Palestinians, and researchers have recently begun to document the psychological toll of the ongoing genocide. This literature review examines the experiences of trauma, mental health, and resilience among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, refugee camps, and across the Palestinian diaspora since October 2023. Twenty-one empirical articles were identified from five major search engines, including PubMed, Scopus, SpringerLink, Proquest, and Google Scholar. Study samples were largely comprised of college students, healthcare workers, and refugees. Studies reported high prevalence rates of sleep disturbances (77.9%), symptoms of anxiety (60.9-77.3%), depression (65.9-69%), and post-traumatic stress disorder (71.3%). Several studies also identified coping resources among Palestinians, including spirituality, social and family support, post-secondary education, economic resources, and the socio-religious concept of steadfastness (sumud), which contributed to their overall resilience. These results highlight the early psychological effects of the genocide among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and beyond. Future research on the intergenerational effects of trauma will determine the extent to which future generations are affected by current conditions of genocidal violence.

The integration of rural communities in low- and middle-income countries into globalizing market economies tends to show both positive and negative effects on children's growth and nutritional status. We recently concluded a study conducted in two Maya communities in Yucatan, Mexico, in which we analyzed secular changes in the anthropometric characteristics of children by comparing data collected during the 1980s and 1990s with data obtained during the last fieldwork season in 2022 and 2023. The communities differ in the time of the beginning of their integration into the economic and sociocultural dynamics of tourism: Yalcoba in the early 1970s and Dzeal in the early 2000s. This process has implied a gradual reduction of dependence of agriculture for self-consumption and the incorporation of the population into the salaried labor market in the main tourist centers of the region. Stunting prevalence have decreased between 61% and 81% in 6-to-12 years of children from 1986 to 2023. Estimates of total height (z-scores) increases were higher in the community that still preserves rural characteristics and has been incorporated more recently into the tourism economy (1.80 SD vs 0.42 SD for boys and 2.42 SD vs 1.64 SD for girls). There were substantial increases in the percentage of excess body weight during the studied period (23% to 45%) but more dramatically during 2000-2020. In boys, the increase in BMI (z-scores) was greater in the community with more time of integration into the market economy (1.09 SD vs. 0.68 SD) during the entire studied period.

Death and dying evoke significantly different beliefs and practices across cultures. Socio-cutural variation in norms and institutions are often emphasized as sources of variation in death rituals. However, environmental variation also contributes significantly to variation in death practices and belief systems. This study investigates interactions between social and physical ecologies in the context of mortuary practices in Tanna, Vanuatu – a context where climate change and an influx of Christian faiths may contribute to changing norms and institutions surrounding death. We conducted interviews with ni-Vanuatu people to understand intersections between death, spirituality, and nature in a remote ni-Vanuatu population. We describe evidence of religious syncretism in death practices and speculate about how climate change will impact landscapes of death for ni-Vanuatu people. We emphasize the need to integrate cultural and ecological predictors of belief systems and related norms as adaptation to changing landscapes impacts human life histories, from birth to death.

Anergy describes a state in which B and T lymphocytes, white blood cells that identify and directly respond to antigens, are rendered unresponsive to antigenic stimulation, preventing an overactive immune response. In some cases, autoreactive lymphocytes are made anergic as a safeguard against autoimmunity. While this mechanism is essential for maintaining immunological tolerance, it has been hypothesized that anergic lymphocytes may be reactivated during infections like COVID-19. This reactivation might constitute an effort by the immune system to mobilize all available resources to fight the pathogen, even at the risk of triggering autoimmunity. Studying the trade-off between immune activation and tolerance may offer insights into how pathogens have shaped human health and susceptibility to autoimmune diseases.

In biological anthropology, research on autoimmunity has focused on evolutionary mismatch, genetic predisposition, and the microbiome. Logistical constraints have historically restricted blood sample collection to dried blood spots, limiting available analyses. The large blood volume required by fluorescence-assisted cell sorting (FACS), the gold standard for detecting lymphocyte sub-populations in immunology, has precluded its use in anthropological studies. However, the TAP MicroSelect II (a minimally-invasive, microneedle-based capillary blood collection device) offers a novel approach that may overcome previous logistical challenges, enabling more detailed study of immune markers in the field. This review explores the potential of using FACS with TAP-collected capillary blood as a method for studying immune function in anthropology.

By assessing advancements in capillary blood collection and immunological techniques, we aim to expand the methodological toolkit available to anthropologists studying immune responses.

Background: Obtaining accurate estimates of children’s dietary intake is important because these estimates are used to characterize diet-disease relationships and describe diet-related inequities. This review synthesized findings from validation studies of dietary assessment tools in which parents were proxy-reporters for their children.

Methods: Database searches (Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane) for validation studies of dietary assessment tools used for estimating daily intake of macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins, or food groups yielded 3,256 citations. Articles were uploaded to Covidence for screening. Seventy-two articles met the inclusion criteria. The JBI Checklist for Analytical Cross-sectional Studies was used to assess the quality of included articles.

Results: Studies were conducted on 6 continents. Median sample size was 100. Eighty-three percent of studies validated a food frequency questionnaire; the remainder validated diet recalls (8%) or other tools (8%). Many studies (62%) used another parent-proxy report tool as the reference method. For macronutrients and micronutrients, two-thirds of the studies reported a statistically significant correlation between the assessment tool and reference method. The mean correlation for each macronutrient or micronutrient ranged from 0.36 to 0.57. Studies were limited by lack of generalizability, use of reference methods prone to measurement error, and misalignment between the assessment tool and reference method.

Conclusions: This review of validation studies found no correlation or low-to-moderate correlations between dietary assessment tools and the reference method. The included studies had significant methodological limitations. Future studies should validate parent-proxy report dietary assessments against objective measures. The development of novel assessment tools may also be warranted.

College is fraught with academic challenges that contribute to psychosocial stress, with implications for students’ mental well-being. For college students aspiring to medical school, The Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) becomes a high-stakes, significant stressor that can be accompanied by feelings of lack of control and demands exceeding resources. Such pressures can trigger an increase in cortisol production as an adaptive response, though chronic activation has been associated with health problems. Drawing on a small longitudinal study of undergraduates (N=20), this project aimed to test whether (1) students’ diurnal profiles for cortisol were flatter across the day as the MCAT approached, (2) students' perceptions of social support, anxiety, and stress changed as the MCAT approached and (3) how those changes related to cortisol profiles. Students reported much higher anxiety in the 2-3 days prior to the MCAT, compared to a month prior (p=0.018). Perceived stress also increased modestly but not significantly as the exam neared, while social support did not (p>0.1). Preliminary analyses indicate that students' cortisol levels and diurnal curves were similar at both time points, but with some indication that women's cortisol diurnal curves may have become steeper near the time of the MCATs. These patterns await further testing. Additionally, students who felt better supported reported significantly lower stress and anxiety (p<0.05), consistent with a protective role of support during high-stakes periods. This study’s findings help underscore the importance of supporting university student mental well-being, particularly during times of heightened pressure.

While breast cancer (BC) rates are low in South Asia (SA), BC rates increase among SA migrants to the UK and USA. We argue this increase occurs in postmenopausal, receptor positive (rather than premenopausal, receptor negative) BC and explore contributing factors from three studies of British-Bangladeshi migrants: i) Puberty Study, 2009-11, 468 girls aged 5-16; ii) Reproduction Study, 2002-3, 227 women aged 18-39; iii) Menopause Study, 2006-10, 534 women aged 35-59. Data included hormone levels, length of reproductive lifespan, diet and anthropometrics, breastfeeding and physical activity. All studies followed the same design, and included participants living in Sylhet, northeast Bangladesh (sedenteesfrom where most British-Bangladeshi migrants originate, migrants who moved to the UK as children or adults, and individuals of European ancestry living in similar neighborhoods. Migrants who arrived early in childhood and second-generation British-Bangladeshis had higher levels of salivary progesterone, earlier menarche and later menopause than sedentees in Bangladesh. Migrant women reduced the length but not incidence of breastfeeding. Following migration, consumption of meat, dairy products, snacks and sugary drinks increased, and vegetable and rice intake declined. BMI and waist circumference increased significantly among migrants relative to sedentees. Migrants from the Menopause Study had significantly lower levels of Vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) compared to sedentees and white women. Physical activity increased among women following migration relative to sedentees but remained lower than white women. Lifestyle factors associated with risk for postmenopausal BC change among Bangladeshi migrants to England and help to explain increased BC rates among SA migrant women.

Breastfeeding reduces the risk of childhood and adult obesity. The current World Health Organization recommendations are to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months and to continue giving human milk alongside the introduction of solid foods for up to 2 years of age or beyond. Initiation of breastfeeding is almost universal in Samoa (~90%), but there is opportunity to increase the proportion of infants exclusively breastfed to 6 months (51.7%). Little is known about how Samoan mothers perceive infant appetite in breastfed infants, which has implications for early cessation of exclusive breastfeeding and introduction of solid foods and/or formula. We administered the Baby Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (BEBQ) to n=100 mothers of exclusively breastfed infants aged 1-4 months alongside the collection of maternal and infant anthropometrics, information on breastfeeding practices, and maternal/household demographic characteristics. BEBQ constructs - Food Responsiveness, Enjoyment of Food, Satiety Responsiveness, Slowness in Eating, and General Appetite – were analyzed using Pearson correlations for their associations with maternal and infant characteristics. Factors that influenced maternal perception of infant eating behavior in our sample were infant size, infant age, feeding routine, average feeding bout length, and maternal confidence in milk supply. As confidence in milk quantity is one of the leading reasons cited for early cessation of breastfeeding, the results of the BEBQ outcomes in this study may shed light on how maternal perception of insufficient milk may be impacting their view on their infant’s eating behavior and patterns.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variability can reveal group-level differences in

evolutionary history and have implications for health resilience. However, most mtDNA

research is conducted in industrialized populations, limiting our understanding of global

variation. We examined WGS mtDNA profiles among the Tsimane and Moseten, two

indigenous horticulturalist populations in the Bolivian Amazon, to better understand

genetic variation and its implications for health.

Our analysis of 88 unrelated, healthy individuals found that, although the Tsimane and Moseten align with haplogroups A2, B2, and C, only 20 samples fell within 90% accuracy of their assigned groups. A significant proportion (68 individuals) displayed greater genetic distance (77%-88%) from established haplogroups, suggesting unique sub-haplogroups. Notably, individuals in haplogroup B2 (n = 36) share novel nondiagnostic variants—16519C, 310T, 3795T, 8270C, and 204C, as well as a 9bp duplication at 8281—that can provide insights into their evolutionary history. The majority of unique variants identified were in the control region and D-loop, consistent with existing literature.

All variants in coding regions were synonymous, indicating conservation of function. Importantly, no variants that have been previously associated with cardiovascular disease are found within the Tsimane and Moseten. Among the 88 individuals, all exhibited three or fewer heteroplasmic variants (5% to 95% heteroplasmic frequency). A recent study observed 10 or more heteroplasmic variants per individual with hypertension in industrialized populations, but hypertension is uncommon among the Tsimane. Our findings underscore the need for greater diversity in health studies to understand how genetic variation influences health outcomes across different populations.

There is growing evidence to support the use of aging biomarkers to predict geriatric syndromes as well as hospitalization and mortality outcomes in older adults. Broad-based interventions are limited due to the lack of cost-effective, non-invasive techniques. The use of dried blood spots from a fingerstick or Tasso+ device (a home-blood spot collection device) may be a less invasive alternative to venous blood collection in older adults. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of blood spot and capillary whole blood for measurement of aging biomarkers in a home-dwelling geriatric population. This study compared blood spot collection using both a Tasso+ device and fingerstick, relative to venous blood, for analysis of 4 aging biomarkers (TNFR, IL-6, IGFBP-1, GDF-15). Samples were collected simultaneously in 14 community-dwelling adults aged 73-95. Passing-Bablok regression of venipuncture values on DBS-to-plasma equivalencies provided Kendall’s τ (a nonparametric measure of correlation) values for TNFR, IL-6, IGFBP-1, and GDF-15 of 0.46, 0.15, 0.69, and 0.49, respectively. The Passing-Bablok regressions of venipuncture values on Tasso-to-plasma equivalencies provided Kendall’s τ values for TNFR, IL-6, IGFBP-1, and GDF-15 of 0.73, 0.54, 0.87, and 0.33, respectively. Based on a Bland-Altman analysis, there was no evidence of systematic bias between venipuncture and DBS. For TNFR, IGFBP-1, and GDF-15, precision decreased at higher values; precision was low for IL-6 across all values. These results indicate that DBS may be a feasible method for biomarker assessment in aging populations. However, Tasso+ requires further investigation with a larger sample.

The gut microbiome has numerous impacts on human health, including gastrointestinal and cardiovascular disease risk. While the social determinants of health (SDoH) are established predictors of human gut microbiome composition, few studies have assessed both the direct and indirect effects of multiple SDoH in driving microbiome diversity. In this project, we investigated the causal pathways linking SDoH to changes in the gut microbiome in two low-resource U.S. communities. Specifically, we collected questionnaire data, dried blood spots (DBS), and fecal samples from 172 individuals in Mississippi (n = 77) and Illinois (n = 95) in 2022-2023 (age range = 3-79). Measures of SDoH included household income, individual healthcare access, individual education, household homeownership, and household food insecurity. We identified bacterial diversity from the fecal samples using 16S rRNA sequencing and calculated alpha diversity (Faith’s phylogenetic diversity, Shannon diversity, and Pielou's evenness) and beta diversity (weighted and unweighted UniFrac) in QIIME2. Using structural equation modeling, we found that DBS C-reactive protein (CRP; a measure of systemic inflammation), positively predicted Faith’s PD (Chi Sq = 4.71, p = 0.03). Moreover, several SDoH were associated with CRP, with the largest effect size for overcrowding (Chi Sq = 3.54, p = 0.05). These results provide support for the conceptual model in which SDoH affect the gut microbiome through inflammatory pathways. This research advances our understanding of how structural and social factors contribute to the health effects of inequality, producing data that can be used to inform public health interventions.

Cameroon is unique in Africa for having two colonial languages spoken in geographically distinct regions, due to its history of split colonial rule under the British and the French. The francophone population constitutes roughly 80% of the total, making anglophones a sociolinguistic minority who have long claimed marginalization by the francophone majority and government. Little research has explored how this structural marginalization impacts the health of anglophone Cameroonians, which may contribute to health disparities through immediate adult health effects and intergenerational stress transmission.

Using 2011 Demographic and Health Survey data, we examine infant birthweight and prenatal care access, comparing outcomes between urban anglophone and francophone regions. The sample (N=871) includes infants born to women aged 20-34, living in urban regions, who gave birth within the five years before the survey. No significant differences were found in c-section rates, or number of prenatal appointments attended, though women in anglophone regions had their first prenatal visit three weeks later (p<0.00) than those in francophone regions. Despite this, infants born in anglophone regions (N=115) were on average 100g heavier than those born in francophone regions (N=756), with the difference trending toward significance (p<0.09). Women in anglophone regions, on average, were less educated, more likely to give birth in a private facility, less wealthy, and more primiparous relative to women in francophone regions, however, these differences were not significant.

Future work should establish whether these apparent differences are due to systematic biases in representation in the sample, to some protective factors, or both.

Water insecurity in urban areas presents distinctive challenges, particularly in marginalized communities. While past studies have documented how households adapt to poor water services, many of these coping strategies come at a significant personal cost. Here we examine the coping strategies and emotional impacts of unreliable water services among 400 women in Iztapalapa, Mexico City. Data were collected through surveys over the Fall of 2022 and Spring of 2023. We assessed household water access, water management practices, and emotional responses to local water services. Results indicate that during acute water shortages, women can spend extended periods (several hours, or sometimes days) waiting for water trucks. Additionally, 57% of respondents reported feeling frustrated or angry about their water situation, while around 20% experienced family conflicts over water use or community-level conflicts around water management, often involving water vendors or government services. This study offers one of the first in-depth examinations of how water insecurity specifically affects women in Iztapalapa, a densely populated region of Mexico City with severe water access challenges. The findings highlight the urgent need for policy interventions that address water insecurity with a gender-sensitive approach, recognizing the disproportionate burden placed on women as primary water managers in their households.

Ecogeographic patterns in human body form have been well documented in living populations, skeletal collections, and fossil remains, and human variation generally conforms to the predictions of Bergmann’s (1947) and Allen’s (1877) rules. Specifically, populations from colder climates tend to exhibit relatively lower surface area to volume ratios (SA/V) and those from warmer environments display higher SA/V ratios, which is hypothesized to aid in heat retention in colder climates and heat dissipation in warmer ones. Recent research, however, has questioned whether these patterns are a product of climate-related selection pressure, or an artifact of population history. Before proposing evolutionary hypotheses regarding the development of human body form, functional links between anatomy and thermoregulatory physiology must be validated.

To this end, this study investigated the relationship between body surface area (BSA) and core temperature change in five males and five females exposed to four climatic conditions in a walk-in climate chamber: control (22°C, 50% RH), cold (5°C, 80% RH), hot/dry (44°C, 15% RH), and hot/humid (39°C, 85% RH). Prior to each 45 minute exposure, participants ingested an eCelsius sensor, which allows continuous core temperature monitoring at 15 seconds intervals, and heat loss/gain was quantified as change in core temperature during exposure. Total BSA was calculated using full body computed tomography scans of each participant. Results suggest that the relationship between core temperature and BSA vary by climatic exposure. Future research will both expand the study sample size and explore more complex relationships between BSA and skin temperature change.

Adrenarche is hypothesized to provide protection to a rapidly developing brain during this time (6-8 years of age), through increased production of DHEA/S, which has antioxidant properties and supports brain energetics. Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) proteins are critical for neurodevelopment and are encoded by the BDNF gene. As such, BDNF gene expression should covary with the timing of adrenarche. Previous research indicates that early life stress and social-emotional environments might affect maturational timing, though few studies have explored adrenarcheal timing. This analysis tested two hypotheses: 1) BDNF epigenetic expression during adrenarche is associated with DHEA-S and 2) the social-emotional environment in infancy is associated with variation in BDNF methylation and DHEA-S concentrations in adrenarche. A secondary data analysis of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) compared differences in the methylation of 77 BDNF CpG sites from birth to 7.5 years of age (n=927), the association of BDNF methylation with DHEA-S concentrations at 8.5 years of age (n=162), and observed maternal-infant interaction quality (n=109). Paired t-tests showed that 45 CpG sites’ and average BDNF methylation were different from birth to 7.5 years of age (p<0.05). Logged DHEA-S concentrations were not correlated with the 12 most variable CpG sites (>0.05 s.d.) or with average BDNF methylation. Two CpG sites were positively correlated with maternal-infant interaction measures (maternal control, warmth, and non-verbal communication). This indicates that BDNF methylation might be independent of adrenarche biomarkers but might be slightly affected by the social-emotional environment in infancy.

Tattooing is a well-documented, yet potentially costly, form of cultural self-expression and identity. Previous research by members of our team revealed relationships between an individual’s cultural valuation of tattooing, immune suppression, and inflammation, suggesting that, contrary to prior expectations, risk of tattoo-related infection is well buffered by immune activation during tattooing. This includes findings showing higher bacteria-killing activity (BKA) after getting a new tattoo (β = 0.48, p = 0.01) relative to pre-tattoo baseline and other changes in immune activity over the course of tattooing. This study builds on prior investigations by asking whether oxytocin serves as a physiological marker of cultural valuation and whether it contributes to anti-inflammatory effects of tattooing. Doing so bridges work in non-human animals showing anti-inflammatory effects of circulating peripheral oxytocin and work in humans supporting the role of oxytocin as a physiological marker of social bonding and belonging.

Background: The placenta plays many critical roles in fetal development, acting as the conduit between the gestational parent and the developing fetus. Physical and social stressors are associated with abnormal placenta development, structure, and function which has the potential to impact pregnancy outcomes and long-term health of the parent and infant (Barker 1997).

Methods: We conducted a scoping review following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. We searched databases (PubMed & SCOPUS). After screening 946 articles, we included 504 studies that examined how maternal stress affects placental function, structure, or gene expression. We excluded studies that did not focus on human placental adaptations to stress or were not published in English. We extracted data on stress types (e.g., psychosocial, nutritional, environmental), biological markers (e.g., cortisol), and placental outcomes (e.g., vascularization, hormone production, gene expression and analyzed for themes and mechanisms using NVivo.

Results: We found that 55% of studies reported maternal stress significantly affected placental development. Three primary pathways emerged: (1) disruptions in hormonal signaling, including altered cortisol regulation and increased placental CRH production; (2) heightened inflammation, indicated by elevated levels of cytokines, such as IL-6; (3) impaired vascularization, leading to reduced placental blood flow and angiogenesis. Stress-related changes in placental gene expression, particularly in glucocorticoid receptor regulation, were linked to increased fetal exposure to maternal stress hormones.

Conclusion: The placenta plays a key role in buffering and transmitting maternal stress to the fetus. Our review highlights the importance of understanding these mechanisms to mitigate stress-related pregnancy complications and improve birth outcomes.

Antibiotic medications are lifesaving inventions, yet have negative impacts on the human microbiome, especially in early life. Women with young children are central health decision-makers in many societies; thus, understanding how they perceive and utilize antibiotic medications in the household is a key step in illuminating early contexts of antibiotic use. This qualitative study explores how in Samoa — a nation with high antibiotic use but strong public health messaging on antibiotic stewardship — mothers of young infants perceive and utilize antibiotics. We conducted an inductive thematic analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews administered to Samoan women with eight-month-old infants. Three themes emerged: benefits/risks and effectiveness of antibiotics, utilization of antibiotics, and perceptions of the relationship between breastfeeding and antibiotics. Samoan women viewed antibiotics as powerful medications that were able to target symptoms and disease agents, yet the same women described antibiotics as having risks, including side effects, bodily imbalance and overreliance, unknown chemical compositions, possible ineffectiveness at treating symptoms, and specific risks to vulnerable populations such as pregnant women. Women described always following healthcare providers’ instructions when they or their infants were prescribed antibiotics, always discarding leftover doses, and either finishing an antibiotic when “feeling better” or at the end of the prescription. Lastly, women described breastfeeding as having disease-fighting properties similar to those of antibiotics. These findings contextualize early life antibiotic use, a key factor shaping infant microbiota and potentially, later-life health.

OBJECTIVE: Through a focus on how racial and gender identities influence health experiences, this research highlights barriers Black men in Ibero-America face in accessing care, aiming to inform strategies to improve health outcomes.

METHODS: A qualitative web-based survey was conducted between May and September 2024 with 80 men from 12 Ibero-American countries using snowball sampling and netnography on digital platforms such as Instagram®️ (@cuidadosaudehomens). A semi-structured Google Forms®️ survey collected sociodemographic data and responses to open-ended questions about Black masculinity, identity, and health. Data were organized in Excel®️ and analyzed using MAXQDA, applying Reflexive Thematic Content Analysis under COREQ guidelines, deriving 10 initial generative themes and 25 underlying themes, framed by theories of Norm/Normalization, Masculinities, Intersectionality, and Anthropology of Health.

RESULTS: The identified themes include how sociocultural norms pathologize Black identity and the effects of racial discrimination, along with the intersection of racism, heteronormativity, and sexism. These factors contribute to mental and physical health disparities. Traditional masculine norms negatively impact health behaviors, while community cultural interactions, such as involvement in capoeira, promote positive behaviors, demonstrating how social factors shape health outcomes. Education and identity affirmation were also key to improving health outcomes.

CONCLUSION: Intersections of racism, heteronormativity, and harmful masculinity norms significantly shape health outcomes for Black men in Ibero-America. Culturally relevant interventions that promote identity affirmation, community resilience, and education are essential to reducing health disparities and improving well-being, indicating the intersection of social markers of Black men’s difference in relation to social determination of health in this population.

Recent research on food security assumes households gain and maintain supermarket access through processes of infrastructure development and urbanization and therefore divides households into those with market access and those without. Our work in Chilean Patagonia challenges this interpretation of market integration as it does not accurately represent how people provision their households on the periphery of the global economy. We explored the relationship between household consumption of locally available resources and proximity to globalized research chains in three distinct locations within the Aysén Region: Coyhaique (the capital and administrative center of the area), Puerto Aysén (a large coastal town), and Puerto Aquirre (a small island community). Preliminary data analyses suggest that local resources comprise a greater portion of local diets in Puerto Aysén and Puerto Aquirre and that these resources distributed via community networks reduce household precarity when supply chain disruptions occur. These results suggest a link between household and community resilience when more formal food availability is inconsistent. Further work is needed to explore how the distribution of locally available resources through dynamic community networks impacts household food security, health outcomes, and community resilience to market disruptions. However, this project highlights the need to explore the nuances of market integration within rural communities and revisit market integration perspectives in anthropological research.

Structural and legislative attacks against transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people’s autonomy and self-determination in the United States have grown exponentially over the past five years. A growing body of literature links this stigma to poorer health among TNB people and implicates stigma as a key social determinant of health. In this context, it becomes vital to identify positive factors affecting health, as well as to understand how sociopolitical context may affect these relationships. Using baseline data from the Transgender Health and Resilience Study, a year-long study of stress and resilience among TNB people living in Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Oregon (N=106), we aimed to understand the relationship between pride in one’s TNB identity and allostatic load and how current state of residence changes this relationship. We indexed allostatic load through quartile-based cutoffs to indicate dysregulation in heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, cortisol awakening response, cortisol daily decline, HbA1c, body mass index, and waist-to-hip ratio. Analyses were adjusted for age. No significant association was detected between pride and allostatic load in the full sample. However, current state of residence moderated the relationship between allostatic load and pride, such that the beneficial effects of pride (i.e., a negative association between pride and allostatic load) was only present among those living in Tennessee. Given that Tennessee was the state with the least legislative protection against anti-TNB discrimination, these data suggest the effect of pride in one’s gender identity on health is most salient in more stigmatizing and less protective environments.

In certain pastoralist communities of East Africa, it is known that stressors directly affect adolescent growth and development. Adolescence is a critical period that demands adequate nutritional intake for physiological processes to be carried out. Stressors in these East African communities can cause delays in adolescent development, which can have downstream, long-term consequences. However, we do not have a complete understanding of the implications of endemic violence on the nutritional health of pastoralist youth in the Pokot and Turkana communities of Northern Kenya. This study aims to address the nutritional status over time of adolescents from these groups who experience widespread intercommunity violence. Our study analyzes anthropometric measurements of adolescents from each community, including stress markers, age, height, weight, skinfold measurements, and food insecurity levels spanning over four years. This study also analyzes additional data from open-ended interviews with community members to give a qualitative perspective to the study. We predict that high levels of stress caused by endemic violence will correlate to nutritional deficits in pastoralist youth. We also predict that chronic violence will have more profound developmental effects on adolescents who experience greater levels of stress across a four-year time period. The findings of this study could offer valuable insight into how an environment afflicted by intercommunity violence influences the health and growth outcomes of pastoralist youth in Northern Kenya.

Gonorrhea transmission is biologically and behaviorally complex, and the disease has a strong propensity for evolving drug resistance. Additionally, marginalized communities experience a disproportionate burden of gonorrhea, particularly the LGBTQ+ community. Thus, tackling this public health problem requires a multi-disciplinary approach, combining socio-cultural, evolutionary, and biomedical perspectives. We set out to compare various public health strategies to mitigating drug-resistant gonorrhea in the US, focusing on cisgender men who have sex with men (“MSM”). To project the population-level impact of these strategies, we developed an agent-based model of gonococcal transmission among MSM, including introduction and transmission of drug-resistant strains. We compared a “surveillance-based” strategy, based on what is currently in place in the US, to several alternative strategies, which assign individual-level treatment regimens in the absence of surveillance information. We used Bayesian melding to calibrate the model against estimates from empirical data on gonorrhea among MSM. All strategies resulted in similar cumulative gonorrhea incidence over 20 years, but strategies varied dramatically in other outcomes. Notably, treatment failure rates were low but reliance on last-line antibiotics was high for the surveillance-based strategy. Further, none of the strategies were effective at preventing the spread of resistant strains long-term. In particular, the surveillance-based strategy appeared to accelerate the spread of drug resistance by applying a strong selective pressure on the bacterial population. Therefore, public health policy concerning drug-resistant gonorrhea merits reconsideration. This study also highlights how biological anthropology can offer new insight into public health problems by combining evolutionary and cultural approaches.

Breast milk is equipped with a host of immunological factors that play a critical role in developing the naïve infant immune system during the first years of life. Immune cells respond to the specific disease ecology that an individual is exposed to, which ultimately shapes variation in human milk immunity. While differences in milk immunity have been studied between rural and urban populations, few studies have looked at the potential for breast milk variation among populations with distinct local ecologies in the same urban context. This study aims to understand how local ecological contexts shape breast milk immunology among women living in the urban Amazonian city of Belém. Using socioeconomic status (SES) to infer the degree of pathogenicity in the lived environment, we performed ELISA assays to measure the concentrations of IgA, IgG, IgM, and lactoferrin in breast milk samples at ~4 weeks of maturity of 60 women, 23 of whom are classified as high SES and 37 as low SES. Among high SES women, concentrations of IgA, IgG, IgM, and lactoferrin were 335 ± 129 mg/L, 10.4 ± 5.19 mg/L, 4.72 ± 2.98 mg/L, and 4.11 ± 1.36 g/L, respectively. Among low SES women, concentrations measured 274 ± 278 mg/L, 8.57 ± 5.02 mg/L, 10.4 ± 8.04 mg/L, and 4.22 ± 1.46 g/L. Overall, there were no significant differences detected between the two groups except in mean IgM concentrations. Further research is required to understand if differences in local ecologies in Belém alter the immunological profiles of breastfeeding mothers.

Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) youth are often situated uniquely as both racialized and invisible minorities in Canada and The United States (U.S.), following the War on Terror and anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Muslim racism. There has been shockingly little attention to characterizing and supporting the health and well-being of SWANA diaspora adolescents living in Canada and The U.S. We conducted a scoping review about physical, psychological, and biological health in SWANA adolescent populations. Inclusion criteria included adolescent and emerging adults ages 10-24 living in Canada or The U.S., Arab or SWANA identity, at least one physical, psychological, or biological outcome and scholarly literature published in English or Arabic any time before late 2024.

We identified 175 relevant studies using ResearchRabbit.ai, Google Scholar, and PubMed, but selected < 50% for inclusion in the review, highlighting the paucity of research on health and biological variation among SWANA adolescents in Canada and the U.S. Despite heterogeneity in the health outcomes reported across studies, many focused on acculturative stress, ethnic identity formation, and mental health. Very few studies examined physical growth, physical health, puberty, neuroendocrine or immunologic outcomes. Our review findings are supplemented by informal, anonymous conversations with members of community organizations working with SWANA youth who shared their perspectives on biological and health research priorities. We discuss potential future contributions of biocultural and human biological research approaches to advance a more holistic understanding of health variation among SWANA adolescent populations, drawing upon the strengths and survivance of SWANA youth.

Transitions toward market-based economies introduce populations to new epidemiological and nutritional challenges such as Type 2 diabetes (T2D), a chronic disease characterized by uncontrolled blood glucose. T2D screening approaches involve identifying obesity via body mass index (BMI), though biological anthropologists and others have challenged this measurement’s utility. We evaluated twelve anthropometric measurements as alternative predictors of T2D (clinical diagnosis or random capillary blood glucose concentration >140 mg/dL) in Vanuatu, an island nation in the South Pacific currently undergoing a rapid economic and epidemiological transition. Anthropometry data collected from 368 adults included height/weight, estimates of abdominal adiposity (waist/hip circumferences), body composition (muscle/fat percentages), and skinfold measurements. Dominance analysis and estimates of model fit (AIC/BIC) identified important predictors for logistic regression models. Parallel analyses revealed unique patterns across sexes, which were obscured when considering participants together. For males, higher muscle mass (OR: 0.72, p = 0.029) and body fat percentages (OR: 0.82, p = 0.041) were inversely associated with diabetes risk. For females, height mattered more: higher waist-to-height ratios (OR: 1.07, p = 0.014) and shorter stature (OR for height in cm: 0.93, p = 0.147) increased risk. Females in this population may be more sensitive to nutritional strain during childhood, where individuals who experienced stunting were more susceptible to T2D as adults. Alternatively, males may be able to offset diabetes risk more effectively through aspects of their physiology and body composition, such as greater muscle proportions. These results support the growing movement away from using BMI to predict chronic disease risk.

The reproductive lifespan affects health and longevity throughout the life course, and while significant focus has been devoted to the role of menarche, menopause remains understudied. Much of our existing data on menopause is derived from industrialized populations, where the risk of cardiovascular diseases increases progressively during the menopausal transition. We worked with the Tsimane, an Indigenous South American group in Bolivia with a physically active lifestyle, and the Moseten, genetically and culturally related horticulturalists experiencing greater market integration, to test the relationship between menopause status and lipid biomarkers (total cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoprotein-B [ApoB], HDL, and LDL). Using linear mixed-effects models, in an all-age sample of women (15-94 years) where menopause was defined as age≥50 we found positive associations between menopausal status and most lipid levels. Menopause was associated with higher total cholesterol (b=7.089 mg/dL, p=0.001, n=2,667 observations from 1,161 women), triglycerides (b=14.276 mg/dL, p<0.001, n=2,671 observations from 1,161 women), and ApoB (b=0.214 mg/dL, p<0.001, n=858 observations from 560 women), controlling for age and population. We found no significant association between menopause status and HDL or LDL. These results support existing literature that documents distinct shifts in the lipid profile during and after the menopause transition in industrialized populations. Further, our results suggest lipid changes increase in the same direction as those observed in industrialized populations despite differential hormone exposure in industrialized environments, contributing valuable data on the global variation of menopause.

Fatigue is a common persistent impairment in individuals with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Schiff et al (2023) recently conducted a feasibility study of deep brain stimulation (DBS) with the primary aim to assess improvements in executive control. Fatigue, as measured by the TBI-QOL Fatigue (TBI-QOL), was preselected as a secondary endpoint. The present study compares the before and after stimulation results of the TBI-QOL among five individuals participating in the DBS trial to fatigue assessed in two other types of self-reported data. Mean scores on the TBI-QOL were similar pre- and post-DBS (30 vs 26, respectively). On an additional self-reported questionnaire, the Rivermead Post-Concussive Symptom Questionnaire (RPQ), pre-DBS, three participants endorsed fatigue as a major problem and two endorsed fatigue as a minor problem. Post-DBS, only one participant endorsed fatigue as a major problem reported on RPQ, one endorsed fatigue as moderate problem and three indicated that fatigue was not a problem (mean score on one item decreased from 3.2 to 1.4). Narrative data also collected as part of a companion study (Fins et al, 2022, 2023) showed a strong effect: pre-DBS: three participants indicated that fatigue was a problem; post-DBS, all three of these participants specifically noted that fatigue had improved, while an additional participant noted improvement in fatigue despite not volunteering fatigue in their baseline interview. These findings broaden the understanding of symptom burden among individuals with chronic brain injuries and suggest the importance of incorporating narrative data to further inform self-report inventories.

The field of human biology relies on research techniques (e.g., minimally-invasive sample collection, point-of-care device use) that make it well positioned to develop research projects strongly rooted in community engagement. Establishing partnerships with community members is increasingly important in human biology research, but this long-term process is not always prioritized in other scientific fields. Here, in a presentation co-authored by researchers and community partners, we explore strategies for developing successful projects in collaboration with community members by highlighting an ongoing study on the impacts of persistent flooding in Cahokia Heights, IL (a predominantly Black, low-resource community). Government neglect of stormwater infrastructure has resulted in decades of household flood damage, unsafe drinking water, and sewage backups. In this presentation: (i) residents share their flooding experiences and discuss the formation of a community council to push for solutions; (ii) we present survey data highlighting factors that influence community member decisions to approve and participate in research studies; (iii) we discuss how community feedback has shaped study design and review key preliminary findings; and (iv) we explore future directions, including plans to strengthen community-researcher ties and use data to solicit assistance from government officials. Results from community-informed methods demonstrate widespread Helicobacter pylori infection (23-47% of participants annually, from 2022-2023), consistently high levels of intestinal inflammation (49-60% of participants, measured using fecal calprotectin), and an inverse relationship between gut microbiota diversity and reported flooding exposure. Cumulatively, these findings align with community experiences and provide evidence for the physical consequences of persistent flooding.

Social support is a buffer in mitigating stress surrounding family formation for childbearing individuals. Support from partners, family, and peers has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression during pregnancy. LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+) individuals may experience a higher burden of stress surrounding a host of structural issues compared to their cisgender and heterosexual peers. These stressors have the potential to affect the health of the individual, which may lead to downstream effects, including decreased fertility and stress-based intergenerational effects on the child. The sources of stress and social support in LGBTQ+ family formation have been minimally explored, particularly within the Southern United States. To understand sources of stress and social support in LGBTQ+ family formation in this population, we conducted interviews with LGBTQ+ participants who lived in either North Carolina or Georgia and either had children, were expecting children, or had considered the family formation process (n = 13). Interviews were also conducted with practitioners working with LGBTQ+ individuals in family formation, including legal professionals, doulas, and acupuncturists (n = 6). Common themes in sources of stress included logistical/decision-making stress, financial constraint, and legal concerns. Sources of support included partners, other parents (whether LGBTQ+ or not), healthcare from non-biomedical sources, and online communities. These results provide insight into both presently relevant stressors in LGBTQ+ family formation and ways to mitigate these stressors.

Postpartum depression (PPD), a psychological health issue, impacts 10-20% of mothers in America. Maternal depression can change the content of mother's milk, influencing milk immunity. Previous research has found that milk cortisol and immunoglobulin levels are increased in mothers when stressed. We hypothesize that postpartum depression would decrease milk immune specificity, which is its ability to differentially respond to varying bacteria. This study investigates the relationship between PPD and milk immune specificity. Mid-Michigan mothers were interviewed to complete the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, which was used to find mothers with PPD. Participants also donated a milk sample, which were incubated overnight in differing conditions - containing salmonella, bifidobacterium, or no bacteria. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) response (the ratio of IL-6 concentration after incubation to before incubation) was compared between these conditions. Based on preliminary data from a total of 21 mothers, those with PPD either had a positive IL-6 response to incubation with no bacteria and response to salmonella; Or there was no response to both conditions with Salmonella and no bacteria. On the other hand, mothers without PPD had little response to no bacteria, and positive response to bacteria. We find that the data produced aligns with our hypothesis that PPD distorts milk immune response; however more research is needed to verify these findings. Infant immune development depends on the quality of milk they receive; therefore, it is essential to understand the relationship between PPD and milk immune specificity

Ozempic, a new drug originally created to treat diabetes, is frequently used for rapid weight loss. Fat stigma and the medicalization of fatness – particularly communicated through social media - may drive individuals toward Ozempic use. In this exploratory project, 100 TikTok videos (#Ozempic) were analyzed in February, 2024, and coded for themes that could influence Ozempic use, including side effects, doctor’s recommendations, and others. Results show that 27% of the videos showcased progress photos or successful weight loss due to the drug, highlighting not only the popularity of the drug but the success of users. Nine videos feature doctors discussing the drug, contributing to the medicalization of fatness. Twelve videos discuss the negative side effects and 10% discuss natural alternatives like supplements. The majority of videos in this sample discussed Ozempic positively, perhaps contributing to use of pharmaceutical solutions for weight loss in their audience, particularly those experiencing weight stigma. Importantly, Ozempic is currently easily accessible online or through medical spas based on BMI alone, but more recent evidence indicates risks of severe side effects of the drug. The intersection(s) of medicalization, stigma, and social media may therefore contribute to significant downstream health effects in Ozempic users. My findings highlight concerns with the rise of prescription weight loss drugs and the role of social media in their use. Future work based on the topic should explicitly test hypotheses derived from this content analysis of social media, including whether those experiencing stigma are more open to pharmaceutical weight loss messaging.

Life history strategies are complex adaptations that coordinate somatic and developmental processes to optimize reproductive success. A fundamental concept in life history theory is phenotypic plasticity, which refers to an organism's ability to adaptively modify its traits in response to variability in its environment. Understanding physiological trade-offs in growing children is crucial for unraveling how and why early environments affect later health outcomes. One underutilized life-history measure is hematocrit, the percentage of red blood cells in blood. Trade-offs in hematocrit are acute; higher levels increase oxygen-carrying capacity and endurance, yet increase the long-term risk of cardiovascular problems. Using cross-sectional data from children ages 6–18 in Utila, Honduras, we assessed predictors of variability in hematocrit. Multiple regression was used to predict hematocrit variation from sex, age, strength, and height. We also assessed the impact of socioeconomic status and father absence. Results showed that hematocrit levels were significantly higher in males than females, but only after puberty, and among children with greater grip strength. Hematocrit levels were also signficantly higher among children living in a household with an unrelated male adult. These findings may reflect varying life history strategies; that is, growing bodies may prioritize benefits in the present over costs in the distant future when the long-term future is less certain.

Forced migration has impacted over 117 million people worldwide, with many experiencing hardships that result in toxic stress and trauma. As refugees seek safety across international borders, they face adverse conditions that may negatively impact their physiological and mental health. Gender plays a critical role in exposure to migration-related trauma, as women and men often face distinct physical and psychosocial stressors influencing their well-being. While variations in exposure to stressors may suggest differences in physiological stress responses, we know little about how these factors affect transient refugees’ psychobiology awaiting resettlement. Building from our prior work, we drew on fingernail cortisol, Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), and blood pressure (BP) data collected from refugees (n = 202) in three Asylum Centers in Serbia between 2017 and 2020. We found that women exhibited lower cortisol (p=0.019) and higher EBV antibody titers (p=0.005) than men. We also found that men and those with shorter journeys had higher systolic BP (p=0.052), with no association observed for diastolic BP. Given that women were more likely to report journey-related trauma, we adjusted these models accordingly. However, this adjustment did not account for differences in EBV levels, cortisol, and systolic BP, although it did account for differences in diastolic BP between genders. While cross-sectional, our study aligns with the idea that women and men encounter and experience migration trauma differently, which may result in divergent physiological profiles and varying susceptibility to health problems. These findings underscore the need for gender-sensitive interventions addressing refugees’ unique needs during transitional migratory stages.

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis proposes that harmful environmental exposures during critical periods of development may be associated with an increased risk of chronic and metabolic disorders. Numerous studies explore the rise in non-communicable diseases using this hypothesis, however, few comparatively examine the effects of food insecurity and nutrition transition. Similarly, studies primarily focus on variables affecting health outcomes in single populations, and a comprehensive analysis exploring whether the DOHaD hypothesis explains multiple health outcomes across populations in different socio-economic contexts has not been done. 

This meta-analysis will test the DOHaD hypothesis by examining four different health outcomes (obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes) observed in countries at varying income levels and differing stages of economic and nutrition transitions. A meta-analysis for each health outcome will be conducted, exploring major predictor variables including exposure to food insecurity, famine, nutritional deficiencies, and malnourishment across time periods including infancy, childhood, and adolescence. A baseline search on PubMed yielded 1407 papers for obesity, 124 for hypertension, 167 for type 2 diabetes and 220 for cardiovascular diseases (e.g. heart attack, stroke). Articles are being screened for levels of market integration, population age, control group, and age at exposure prior to data extraction and analysis. 

The study will improve our understanding of increasing non-communicable disease prevalence and inform whether DOHaD mechanisms explain these trends across populations with different socioeconomic contexts. Results will contribute to evolutionary medicine, and inform health policy and health interventions, especially in developing countries. 

Chronic pain has been linked to chronic stress, yet the pathways for how stress becomes embodied as chronic pain are not well understood. Current research suggests that this may occur through shared neural changes associated with both the cumulative ‘wear-and-tear’ of chronic stress (allostatic load), and increased pain perception. Using data from Wave 2 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N=1,712), a nationally representative study of community-dwelling older adults (aged 61-91 years) in the United States, we aimed to test the hypothesized association between allostatic load and chronic pain through logistic and linear regression. Modeling other work investigating these relationships, we defined having chronic pain as having moderate, severe, extreme, or the worst pain imaginable over the past 4 weeks. To index allostatic load, we used quartile-based cutoffs to identify dysregulation for each system assessed via several biomarkers including heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, glycosylated hemoglobin, Epstein-Barr antibodies, C-reactive protein, and dehydroepiandrosterone. Analyses were adjusted for potential confounders including age, exercise level, smoking, depression, anxiety, and perceived stress. Allostatic load was associated with experiencing chronic pain (b=0.089, p=.038, 95% CI=0.005, 0.173). Among those reporting any level of pain, allostatic load was associated with pain level (b=0.055, p=.017, 95% CI=0.010, 0.101). These results support the hypothesized association between chronic pain and allostatic load and suggest that allostatic load may act as a mediating pathway through which lived experiences of chronic stress become embodied as chronic pain.

It has been well established that undergraduate college students retain misconceptions about evolution even after completing life science courses. Use of student-centered approaches in science courses, including problem-solving and inquiry-focused activities, has been shown to improve student learning generally and their understanding of evolution. Further, it has been suggested that for students to fully comprehend evolution, they need to understand that it is fundamentally about genetic change. Typical curricula in introductory biological anthropology labs involve examination of phenotypic phenomena, e.g., exercises focused on morphology and function; opportunities for students to link phenotypic with genetic variation in problem-solving, hands-on activities are not standard. From 2013-2016, faculty at West Chester University developed and implemented an inquiry-based laboratory curriculum for introductory biological anthropology that is still in use today in this course. A unique characteristic of this curriculum has been the incorporation of exercises that engage students directly with genetic evidence for evolution linked with phenotypic variation at several points in the semester (e.g., using DNA sequences to test morphology-based hypotheses about primate phylogeny). In this presentation, we summarize the evidence that students achieve greater improvement in their understanding of evolution in the context of an inquiry-based curriculum in biological anthropology than in standard lab curricula and provide data suggesting that an important component of this improvement may be the activities that encourage students to make connections between molecular and phenotypic variation.

Supported by an NSF TUES Award (DUE-1245013) and West Chester University.

The present study investigated the relationship between somatic maturation and human development in children. The sample includes 7,332 children (54% girls) aged 9-11 y from 12 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, India, Kenya, Portugal, South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States). Maturity offset was computed from sex-specific regression equations using age and anthropometric characteristics to predict status of the child relative to their age at peak height velocity (aPHV). Sex-stratified mixed multilevel models with age as a covariate, accounting for the clustered data (children within schools within study sites), were used to examine the relationship between maturity offset and Human Development Index (HDI; analyzed as quartiles). The mean (SD) for age and maturity offset were 9.9 (0.6) y and -2.1 (1.0) y, respectively. HDI ranged from 0.509 for Kenya to 0.929 for Australia. Boys from higher HDI countries were closer to aPHV [mean (SE)]: Quartile 1, -3.2 (0.03) y; Quartile 2: -3.0 (0.03) y; Quartile 3: -2.8 (0.02) y; and Quartile 4: -2.8 (0.02) y; p for trend <0.0001. Girls from higher HDI countries were also closer to aPHV: Quartile 1, -1.6 (0.03) y; Quartile 2: -1.6 (0.03) y; Quartile 3: -1.3 (0.02) y; and Quartile 4: -1.3 (0.02) y; p for trend <0.0001. A similar association was observed using partial correlations between HDI and maturity offset, adjusting for age, which were 0.28 in boys and 0.20 in girls. In conclusion, children from countries with higher levels of human development were more advanced in terms of somatic maturation.

Unplanned or unintended pregnancy has been associated with increased risk of adverse outcomes such as preterm birth and postpartum depression. Major US and global public health initiatives aim to decrease rates of unintended pregnancies in order to reduce maternal and infant health disparities, meanwhile, the socioecology of reproductive behaviors and pregnancy planning varies significantly across demographic groups.

We analyzed observational cohort data collected between 2010-2013 from a nationally diverse sample of nulliparous women (n=9,271) to assess the impacts of pregnancy planning on birth outcomes in the US. Among this cohort intending to carry nulliparous pregnancies to term, non-Hispanic white women were 2.9 times more likely than non-Hispanic Black mothers-to-be and 1.6 times more likely than Hispanic women to have planned their pregnancies. Rates of adverse birth outcomes were highest among Black women (12.7% versus 8.1% in white women and 8.2% in Hispanic women), as were rates of postpartum complications (6.8% in Black women, 4.7% in white women, and 6.7% in Hispanic women).

We ran generalized linear models to associate planned versus unplanned pregnancy with adverse birth outcomes (including preterm birth and fetal loss), postpartum complications, and surveyed breastfeeding plans, controlling for maternal age and BMI. Models stratified by racialized groups show that pregnancy planning was predictive of these outcomes only among non-Hispanic white women, despite statistical power >0.85 across all groups. These results indicate that reproductive ecology varies among racialized groups in the US, and generalized associations may not explain disparities among groups most likely to experience adverse outcomes.

Exploring the immunological mechanisms of oral immunotherapy in food allergy desensitization

Food allergies represent a growing public health crisis, with severe reactions like anaphylaxis putting the lives of affected individuals at constant risk. Conventional approaches to managing food allergies, such as allergen avoidance and emergency interventions, focus on preventing reactions but do not address the root immunological causes. Oral immunotherapy (OIT) has emerged as a promising therapeutic alternative, aiming to desensitize individuals by introducing gradual, controlled doses of allergens. This research seeks to explore the molecular and cellular pathways through which OIT induces desensitization, specifically focusing on how OIT modulates IgE-mediated immune responses and promotes long-term immune tolerance by enhancing the activity of regulatory T cells. To achieve this, an extensive review of the current literature will be conducted alongside survey data from individuals undergoing or who have completed OIT treatment. Clinical insights from Dr. Inderpal Randhawa, a physician renowned for using oral desensitization, will be integrated to link theoretical mechanisms with practical, real-world clinical experiences. By deepening the understanding of OIT’s mechanisms, this research aims to contribute to the development of safer and more effective therapies for food allergy desensitization.

K Khaloyan

Department of Nutritional Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California

Risk perception has been well studied during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in models of behavior that assess engagement with public health recommendations. However, it is critical to understand how individuals situationally assess their risk, and what demographic and health factors influence personal risk assessments. Using a mixed-methods approach, we conducted an online survey with University of Toronto students from August - September of 2021 (n = 126), and again from June - July 2022 (n = 84), assessing the impact of repeated university closures on students’ health. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted across both years of data collection (n = 13 and n = 8, respectively). Survey questions related to students’ perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) and a situational risk assessment of eleven typical campus scenarios. Regression analyses demonstrated that increased PVD was associated with older age and Big Five personality traits, with extroversion and conscientiousness predicting higher germ aversion scores. Poorer self-rated mental and physical health predicted higher perceived infectability but not germ aversion. Furthermore, increased PVD was associated with assessing typical campus scenarios as unsafe. Thematic analysis of interview and free-survey responses found changing risk perceptions across time, with an increased focus on a personal assessment of risk in the second year, with increased preference for hybrid format of classes. Evolutionary perspectives on risk decision making, such as the Behavioral Immune System, can assist in contextualizing these findings. These results are critical for tailoring university protocols during infectious disease outbreaks, to increase inclusion of diverse student needs.

Understanding how children regulate energy is crucial for advancing knowledge on human biological variation, with important implications for metabolism, evolution, and health. Leptin, a hormone secreted by adipocytes, is a key biomarker of energy status and appetite regulation, signaling energy stores to the brain to adjust food intake. Problematically, leptin research has been overwhelmingly limited to venipuncture sampling, restricting its use in vulnerable populations, including children and Indigenous groups, and preventing understanding of global variation. Here, we validated a commercial ELISA kit (R&D Systems, QK398) for measuring leptin in finger-prick dried blood spot (DBS) samples using the ‘Waco100’ matched DBS:serum sample set (N = 40), following a validation with a now-unavailable kit. Leptin was reliably detected in DBS (mean = 312.2±251.0 pg/mL), with a strong linear relationship to serum values (r² = 0.97; Passing-Bablok regression). Validation tests confirmed dilutionary linearity (103.2±4.2% recovery), spike and recovery (102.3±4.1% recovery), and analyte temperature stability (all effects p > 0.05). These results indicate excellent reliability for measuring leptin in DBS. To initially explore variation in children’s energy regulation, we measured leptin in DBS from 23 Indigenous Ecuadorian Shuar children (ages 3-12 years). Shuar children leptin levels appear to be lower than industrialized references, with a mean of 31.3±26.6 pg/mL in DBS (equivalent to 1,093.4±936.3 pg/mL in serum). Additionally, leptin was positively associated with BMI (ß = 2.27, p < 0.01) and weight-for-age (ß = 1.76, p < 0.01). These findings support measurement of leptin in DBS for studying childhood energetics and appetite regulation globally.

Hadzabe foragers of Tanzania are currently experiencing shifts in their ecological, nutritional, and socio-political landscapes. These factors have led to alterations in their identity, patterns of subsistence, and degree of market integration. Despite research interest, few data are available to demonstrate how these changes impact food security and overall nutrition. We present preliminary findings on food security in Hadzabe communities alongside 24-hour dietary recall data to explore shifts in dietary composition. Among an adult sample (n=123), average caloric consumption was 1,595 kcal/day. Daily kcal consumption significantly decreased from 2015 to 2019 (U=11.57, p=0.001) - largely due to a drop in wild food consumption (U=5.3, p=0.021), specifically berries (U=8.96, p=0.003) and tubers (U=6.53, p=0.011). These changes are likely impacting women asymmetrically, given that they collect and eat significantly more berries (τ = 2.31, p=0.021), and less honey (τ = -4.56, p<0.001) - a resource that remained stable from 2015-2019. Measuring food insecurity using validated surveys, we found that 79.5% of participants reported at least 1 experience of severe food insecurity during 2019, with an average score of 3.26 (scale 0-8). This suggests that food insecurity is increasing alongside decreased access to wild foods. These data act to dispel the myth that foragers remain immune to expanding global markets, while also contextualizing contemporary variation in subsistence regimes and highlighting resiliency in the face of change.

Sex differences in human body composition are often framed as an evolutionary response to resource constraints. Both seasonal fluctuations and extreme famine events can induce shortfalls in food availability, and have been at the center of debates over which favored sexual dimorphism in body composition. While this debate has been theoretically formulated, it lacks empirical testing. Here we analyze body composition in three groups of hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists who are genetically related but experience considerable differences in food availability and energy stress. Analyses show that differences in male and female body composition are proportional across this food gradient except under synthetic starvation conditions. When exposed to starvation, women loose substantial fat mass, yet retain sufficient levels to maintain their lean mass. Men, however, loose both significant fat and lean mass. The greater resilience of women to pronounced deprivation may be an unintended consequence of an ancient dimorphism in body fat or selected more recently, following domestication, as famine became a regular feature of the human subsistence niche. Findings imply that behavioral strategies that emerged during human evolution were adequate to offset debilitating lean mass losses during seasonal food shortages, however, may not have been protective for men during starvation events.

Chronic hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activation can affect the regulation of inflammation, potentially reducing glucocorticoid sensitivity and promoting the development of a pro-inflammatory phenotype. Epidemiological studies often rely on static baseline measures of circulating inflammatory biomarkers, whereas minimally invasive ex-vivo cell culture protocols can quantify dynamic inflammatory regulation by measuring cytokine responses to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenges and subsequent regulatory response to glucocorticoids (GCs) in small volumes of whole blood. These ex-vivo cell culture systems are potentially cost-effective approaches for assessing pro-inflammatory phenotype development and GC sensitivity in community-based settings, however it remains unclear whether observed inflammatory regulation patterns captured by these systems indicate trait or state effects and whether inflammatory regulation measurements are associated with circadian timing. In this study we compare pro-inflammatory cytokine responses in an ex-vivo LPS-GC cell culture system across two time points and between morning and afternoon blood collections among participants in Project TAURUS (Targeting And Understanding Racism Under the Skin), a pilot study of young adults of color residing in Austin, TX (ages 18-26, 75% female, n=154). Paired t-tests will be used to compare IL-6, IL-1β, and TNFα concentrations across four stimulated culture conditions completed two weeks apart and between participants completing morning versus afternoon blood draws. These results will contribute new methodological considerations of observation stability and timing in measurements of inflammation regulation in community settings.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects around 10% of US children and 4.4% of US adults, and is diagnosed when persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity are observed to impact daily functioning. Given the high prevalence of ADHD, an evolutionary mismatch framework suggests that ADHD behaviors were previously beneficial and, thus, may still be beneficial in certain contexts. Here, we explore common areas of strength self-identified by ADHD-diagnosed adults.

Semi-structured interviews and surveys were used to collect data on participant’s experiences at home, at work, and in other aspects of daily life. The benefits of ADHD were emphasized during interviews. Interviews were transcribed for thematic analysis. Preliminary findings from seven individuals who have been interviewed so far are included here. 13 more interviews are planned.

Six of seven participants regarded their ability to problem solve in creative ways (“out-of-the-box” thinking) as a key strength derived from their ADHD. Five participants described finding enjoyment in and feeling passionate about jobs and hobbies with hands-on components, while four participants noted being drawn to dynamic environments with varied tasks. Two participants stated that the ability to “hyperfocus,” which they attributed to their ADHD, was highly beneficial. Two participants who regularly participate in physically challenging sports felt that their ADHD contributed positively to their performance by allowing them to process information quickly and multitask effectively. Planned future research building on these data will investigate whether these self-identified strengths are more common in those with ADHD than those without ADHD.

The development of hydroelectric dams has been integral to economic development in low- and middle-income countries. For example, the Thwake Multipurpose Dam in Makueni, Kenya, is expected to reduce water insecurity and enhance economic development upon completion. However, the biosocial implications of these infrastructure projects, particularly among women and children, are poorly understood. As a measure of the stress related effects, this study examines the cortisol concentrations and diurnal variation of women who were either resettled by, live downstream of, or live upstream of the Thwake Multipurpose Dam development project. Salivary cortisol (1205 samples corresponding to 411 participants) was measured in the evening, upon waking, and 30-minutes after waking in 2019. After applying exclusion criteria to control for sample quality, collection timing, outliers, and survey data, 221 participants had at least one measure of cortisol concentration. Mean participant age was 37.1 years (SD 15.7), the mean on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale was 35.2 (SD 9.40), the mean Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women was 5.72 (SD 2.01), and the mean wealth index was 0.070 (SD 0.901). In unadjusted linear regression, log-transformed evening cortisol concentration and evening-waking diurnal difference were significantly associated with displacement status. In adjusted linear regression, log-transformed evening cortisol concentration was significantly associated with displacement status. These results suggest that both displaced and downstream communities experience stress related hormonal changes from dam-induced disruption. Greater attention to downstream communities is necessary for more comprehensive mitigation measures to reduce the health impacts of hydroelectric dam development.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are global health priorities, but in the United States few studies have examined the intersection of intestinal health, parasite infection, the microbiome, and clean water access. No study has explored these phenomena with people experiencing houselessness (PEH). Given the sensitive and often stigmatizing nature of WASH issues and the methods used to assess the health impacts thereof (e.g., fecal samples), researchers examining these topics must tread carefully to avoid further marginalizing groups for whom WASH access is a challenge. Toward that end, we used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to design a pilot project under a larger housing insecurity and health study that examined WASH and its health consequences among PEH. Initial results from a focus group with five participants showed consistent WASH access challenges and experience with unfiltered water causing serious illness and stress. Water sources included the local river for multiple uses, including drinking and bathing. In the next several months we will be collecting additional interview data and beginning a pilot study that involves analysis of parasite infection, intestinal inflammation, and microbiome composition. These preliminary discussions suggest that despite no historical studies examining parasite infections and intestinal health among this population in the US, it is reasonable to expect novel findings given prevalent WASH accessibility challenges. The CBPR methodology will allow us to work in collaboration with participants and the community towards interventions, intestinal healthcare access, open lines of bidirectional communication for feedback, and overall health of the community.

Intersectional inequalities in the United States have far and wide-reaching consequences, including on paths to parenthood. Individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may experience more barriers to becoming parents. Poorer mental health outcomes and sustained stress from higher levels of uncertainty and economic instability may impose an effect on biological function, especially for those who experience the highest levels of discordance between their fertility goals and individual agency. Our present analysis seeks to explore and characterize the relationships between sociodemographic characteristics and an individual's fertility goals, as well as identify key barriers and facilitators to meeting fertility goals. To this end, we utilize data from the Fertility Expectations, Experiences & Life Intentions (FEEL) Study. Data collection took place between July 2024 and October 2024, and the study population included individuals residing in the state of North Carolina with female reproductive anatomy who were between the ages of 25 and 35 years old. Participants were required to be without any current children or dependents. The data collected included self-administered online questionnaires (N=189) and in-depth semi-structured interviews (N=31). Using questionnaire data, we examine the relationships between participant characteristics, including measures of social status, age, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, psychosocial stress, education level, relationship status, and the desire for children. Our study results suggest that there are differences in fertility goals between individuals based on social characteristics. This work is grounded in a reproductive justice framework and amplifies the need to address ongoing inequalities in the United States for the betterment of its population.

Previous research has shown that mothers and infants in rural parts of the United States are at greater risk for lack of access to care and poorer maternal and infant health outcomes compared to urban parts of the country. In North Carolina, there has been an increase in the closure of labor and delivery units over the past ten years especially in rural areas of the state. However, little is known about how these closures have affected trends in prenatal care access in North Carolina. This exploratory secondary analysis examines the trends and factors in prenatal care visits over time in rural versus urban North Carolina counties using data from the 2006-2020 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) dataset. Initial analyses show an increasing delay in the timing of first prenatal visits between 2006 and 2019 in both rural and urban counties, though differences between urban and rural counties are not significant (p-value = 0.57). Additionally, findings from this analysis suggest that prenatal care visits are delayed in both urban and rural parts of North Carolina due to factors such as having no prenatal appointments available, not having insurance for early prenatal care, and not having Medicaid coverage. Examining these relationships over time is important to understanding potential inequalities in maternal and infant health outcomes in rural parts of North Carolina.

Hepatitis B is a viral disease transmitted largely through bodily fluids and can result in liver failure, liver cirrhosis, and cancer. A majority of people with hepatitis B are unaware of their infection status, and approximately 50-70% of adults with acute hepatitis B are asymptomatic. Hepatitis B is known to disproportionately affect Asian Americans, and although the vaccine has been commercially available in the United States since 1982, it is estimated that Asian/Pacific Islander Americans (APIA) are 10 times more likely to die of hepatitis B compared to White Americans. While researchers have sought to understand hepatitis B risk among immigrant and minority populations, few studies have compared the perspectives of hepatitis B among Asian American adults across multiple stakeholders: patients, providers, and advocates. This study aimed to examine the political dynamics and social experiences of Chinese Americans living with chronic hepatitis B infection in the San Francisco-Bay Area. Through ethnographic research, our results showed that Chinese American patients carefully monitored their medical conditions, expressed deep trust towards their providers, and sought to be seen as “typical” or “normal” members of society. Their desires for normalcy were linked to a long history of stigma against Chinese American adults, who were viewed as pathologized, diseased, and a group needing extra support. Perceived limitations in health advocacy efforts were driven by their inability to overcome language barriers, limited understanding of patient’s cultural perspectives, and a lack of supportive government policies, attention, and funding for minority health problems, including hepatitis B.

Circadian rhythms form the biological basis for numerous physiological and behavioral processes, including sleep patterns. While regulated by the light-dark cycle, other stimuli including temperature and work hours also influence them. Although sleep's importance for health is well known, the role of rest-activity patterns—an expression of circadian rhythm—is less understood. Here, we present rest-activity data from two Indigenous Wixárika samples in Mexico: one from a rural town in northern Jalisco, and the other from communities of migrants in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area. We hypothesized that urban environments disrupt rest-activity rhythms, predicting that the urban migrants would have less stable, more variable rest-activity patterns and later sleep timing than those living in the rural community. We generated rest-activity data (relative amplitude (RA), interdaily stability (IS), and intradaily variability (IV)) from 124 participants (mean age=33.37 years, 67.74% women) using wrist-worn accelerometers. Using linear regression analyses, we compared RA, IS, and IV by location, controlling for occupation, age, and gender. We found no difference between groups in RA (estimate=−0.003, p=0.907), IS (estimate=-0.006, p=0.803), or IV (estimate=0.003, p=0.931). Women have significantly higher IS than men (estimate=0.078, p<0.001), and those working as artisans have significantly lower IV than non-artisans (estimate=-0.134, p=0.002). We found that the average midpoint of sleep—indicating sleep timing—is significantly later in the urban compared to the rural group (estimate=49.17, p<0.001). These results indicate that factors associated with urban living environments may drive later sleep timing, but that social factors may be more important in influencing circadian rhythms.

Extreme climatic events have devastating effects on malnutrition, yet little is known about how different subsistence strategies mediate their effects. The historic 2020-2023 Greater Horn of Africa Drought led to widespread food insecurity and undernutrition across eastern Africa. We sought to understand how diverse subsistence strategies were associated with undernutrition among Daasanach pastoralists using data from the Daasanach Human Biology Project, collected from June 2019 (pre-drought) to 2022 and 2023 (peak and end of drought) to July 2024 (a year post-drought). Anthropometric data for adults ≥ 18 excluding pregnant women (n = 959, N = 486) indicated that most adults were underweight, with an average BMI range from 17.90-18.23 for men and 18.05-18.53 for women across years. Subsistence strategies of market food purchases and fish, meat, and milk consumption showed differing usage trends, with the highest fish and milk consumption in 2024, while reliance on market purchases was highest and meat consumption was lowest in 2022. We estimated panel random effects linear regression models to analyze the impact of these dietary subsistence strategies on BMI and adiposity via sum of four skinfolds (SUM4), controlling for age, sex, and year fixed effects. Higher meat consumption was associated with slightly higher BMI (B = 0.053; SE = 0.19; p = 0.024) and adiposity (SUM4) (B = 0.54 mm; SE = 0.02; p = 0.005), while fish, milk consumption, and market purchases were not associated with indicators of undernutrition. This highlights the importance of traditional and emergent subsistence strategies for nutritional stability among pastoralists.

The biocultural anthropological approach is a term that has seen an increase in usage with regards to academic job postings and medical anthropology courses in Canada.

The extent to which Canadian biological medical anthropologists embrace a biocultural approach in their research is unknown. Further, the precise definition of the biocultural approach is not clearly defined.

For this presentation we used a Google search of faculty university biographies to identify:

1. Medical anthropologists who are faculty members at a public post-secondary institution in Canada

2. Medical anthropologist who self-identify as using biocultural methods

Out of the identified biological medical anthropologists, we explore the frequency of the usage of the biocultural approach in their research within the last 10 years.

Our preliminary findings suggest that in departments with at least one medical anthropologist (total anthropology faculty of 546), 10.2% identify as medical anthropologists. Only 3.5% of anthropology faculty self-identified as a biological medical anthropologist. Of all the medical anthropologists in Canada, only 30.43% identify as biological medical anthropologists.

The common research areas: include disease, global and public health, nutrition and diet, and maternal and infant health. Less common areas of interest are mental health, trauma and surgery, and disability studies.

Achieving a precise percentage as to who are medical anthropologists proved to be a challenge. We propose an expansive definition of the biocultural approach within medical anthropology, which includes the physical and social environments. Future research will require interviews with medical anthropologists to elucidate their perspectives on what is biological medical anthropology.

Despite women’s physiological need for large amounts of iron during pregnancy, there are only a few studies that have studied the relationship between iron status and fecundity/fertility. Women with both low and high iron biomarkers have been reported to experience low fertility or fecundity, depending on population context and biomarker choice. This study seeks to test two different biomarkers of iron deficiency, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) and ferritin, and their relationship to self-reported infertility in 483 reproductive-aged (18-49 years old) women who have never been pregnant in the NHANES 2015-2018 dataset. I predicted that greater iron deficiency, measured by higher sTfR and lower ferritin, would be associated with greater odds of reporting infertility. Ferritin and sTfR were log-transformed prior to analysis. PROC SURVEYLOGISTIC was used, with appropriate weights, to analyze odds ratio of self-reported infertility. Controlling for age, race/ethnicity, income/poverty ratio, BMI, and log C-reactive protein, higher sTfR was significantly associated with higher odds of reported infertilty (OR = 3.47, p = 0.01). Lower ferritin was marginally associated with higher odds of infertility (OR = 1.68, p = 0.08). In contrast to previous studies, iron deficiency is associated with greater likelihood of infertility in U.S. women who have not been pregnant. In this study, sTfR showed a stronger relationship than ferritin. This may be due to ferritin’s role as an acute phase reactant during inflammation, a known risk factor for infertility in this population. Choice of biomarker may impact research findings and ultimately clinical decision-making for iron deficient women.

In rapidly urbanizing areas across the globe, populations from rural areas move to urban cores, pursuing expanded opportunities in life. These moves introduce novel changes in exposures and lifestyle that influence health through multiple pathways, including changes in diet, activity levels, and daily stress exposure. We assessed the impacts of lifetime transitions in neighborhood urbanicity on health using data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS), a one-year birth cohort study established in 1983-1984. We tallied the number of residential moves participants experienced and calculated the cumulative change in urbanicity, as revealed in a composite urbanicity scale reflecting population size, density, access to communications, transportation, educational facilities, health services, and markets in the residential areas. Health was indexed using a suite of epigenetic clocks measured in whole blood (Illumina EPIC v.1 array) collected at 20-22 years of age. DNA methylation data were used to calculate Horvath, Hannum, PhenoAge, GrimAge, telomere length, and DunedinPACE clocks. Regression models adjusting to relevant control variables revealed significant gender differences in urbanicity changes, with females (M=1.25, SD=7.58) experiencing greater changes compared to males (M=0.45, SD=7.98) [t(1534.6) = -2.03, p = 0.043]. Among females, significant correlations were observed between urbanicity changes and biological aging, including positive correlations (reflecting faster aging) with PCHorvath1 (r=0.096, p=0.009), PCHorvath2 (r=0.094, p=0.010), PCPhenoAge (r=0.119, p=0.001), and PCGrimAge (r=0.098, p=0.007), and an inverse correlation (faster aging) with PCDNAmTL (r=-0.080, p=0.029). This study points to impacts of lifetime change in urbanicity that manifest in marked, gender-specific patterns, with females most impacted.

Intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) remain a long-standing problem still affecting indigenous peoples worldwide. Physical environment characteristics, sociocultural practices and economic conditions can either contribute to the persistence or act as barriers of parasite transmission. Thus, attitudes and perceptions among indigenous peoples are an important step to successfully address IPIs and promote prevention. In this pilot study we focused on two different Qom/Toba communities in Formosa, northern Argentina: Namqom (a peri-urban neighborhood near the province capital), and Vaca Perdida (a rural community in the West of the province). We were interested in comparing these two sites to evaluate possible differences in their attitudes and knowledge regarding intestinal parasites, and their access to Western health care offered at primary level local health centers. Here, we report results from a qualitative data analysis of n = 27 interviews and n = 54 questionnaires. In both communities, there was limited recognition of the presence, transmission, health impact and prevention of parasites. We found similar narratives about intestinal parasites, and no clear indication of traditional medicine practices to address parasite symptoms between locations. Site-specific factors, such as access to clean water, toilet conditions, hand hygiene, and waste management, likely played a role in either facilitating or reducing parasite transmission. Health care workers reported a high incidence of parasitic infections based on patients' symptoms but noted challenges in ensuring compliance with Western medical treatments. As a result, a following study will assess the presence and diversity of intestinal parasites through fecal sample analysis.

Blood pressure (BP) is an important biomarker of cardiovascular health and individuals must navigate a trade-off between high and low BP. Chronic high BP leads to tissue damage, but acute low BP will not perfuse the body with oxygen. Therefore, BP could reflect aspects of life history; that is, because it affects the rate and efficacy of energy delivery throughout the body, BP variation may reveal different energetic strategies. To investigate this, we measured the BP of 72 children in Utila, Honduras, a small island where residents experience varying levels of energetic and psychosocial stress. 19.4% of children were prehypertensive or hypertensive, revealing substantial variation. We built multiple linear regression models testing the effects of growth, red blood cells, and psychosocial stress on BP, controlling for time spent sitting before measurement, as well as recent food and caffeine consumption. In accordance with the medical literature, we expected that age, being male, and growth would have positive effects on BP. Results showed that height and sex were significant predictors of systolic BP (β=0.23, p=0.02; β=6.20, p=0.04); taller, male children had higher BP. Among the psychosocial variables, we found that food security had a positive effect on systolic BP (β=0.29, p=0.05). The more food-secure an individual is, the higher their BP, contrary to our expectations and the published literature. 32% of the variation in BP was explained by these variables; therefore, a larger percentage of the variation remains unexplained. Future studies should address the complicated relationships between social stressors and physiological outcomes.

This research aims to examine the impact of digital technologies on the perception and body identity of young adults, focusing on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. Adopting a bioanthropological approach, which combines biological and cultural dimensions, together with a netnographic methodology, the analysis explores how these social networks shape aesthetic norms and influence body perceptions representations: young adults, confronted with retouched images and idealized content, often feel pressure to reconstruct their bodies, leading them to undergo surgical procedures, such as body modification surgeries, breast augmentation, facial harmonization. Preliminary observations show that this continuous exposure to idealized beauty standards contributes to a redefinition of body identity, exacerbating insecurities, emotional stress, and social comparisons. Faced with these challenges, young people develop coping mechanisms, such as involvement in movements of body positivity, that promote self-acceptance despite the aesthetic pressures. Through a literature review and collection and critical analysis of data, this poster aims to provide an understanding of contemporary issues related to body image. By integrating historical and biocultural perspectives, this research highlights the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to understand modern challenges related to body perception and identity, while also shedding light on the sociocultural implications for the psychological well-being of young adults in the digital age.

The peripartum period is often characterized by declines in relationship quality and satisfaction via changes in responsibilities and lifestyle that come with caring for a newborn.The transition to parenthood also represents a period of biological sensitivity for both parents, as their physiology acclimates to their new roles and helps shape functioning within family systems. Research on hormone synchronization in couples has shown that synchronization may occur between partners and may be associated with variation in relationship quality and interaction patterns. To examine the potential intersections between new parents’ hormone responses and synchronization with conflict behaviors, we drew on a U.S.-based study of 49 mother-father pairs observed during a conflict interaction task. Saliva samples taken pre and post-interaction were assayed for cortisol, testosterone, and oxytocin. If mothers’ behavior was more negative during the interaction, their testosterone was significantly lower (p<0.01) as was their oxytocin (p<0.01) but this was not true for fathers. Cortisol was not significantly associated with parents’ negative behaviors. For cortisol, there was evidence of significant linkage, such that mothers' cortisol predicted fathers' cortisol and vice versa, and we found similar linkage patterns for parents’ testosterone (p<0.01). We found modest support for fathers’ negative emotions moderating maternal-paternal linkages for fathers’ testosterone (p<0.01). These findings support prior research that suggests physiological synchronization can occur in the form of hormone linkages, and that there may be gender differences for hormone responses in relation to emotion within couple conflict.

Sufficient physical activity promotes healthy growth and development for children. Specifically, greater physical activity has been linked to lower long-term risk of poor mental well-being and obesity and promotes muscle strength. Physical activity is vital for children in post-industrial societies, where societal requirements, such as schooling, and certain cultural practices often limit routine movement. In contrast to post-industrial contexts, we know little about the objective physical demands on children in subsistence communities where the physical demands of daily life may pose a challenge to growth and development under energetically challenging conditions. We used Motionwatch-8 actigraphy watches to measure moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among youth (N=50; aged 9-18) in two subsistence communities (Bandongo and BaYaka) in the Congo Basin. Results indicated no significant differences in MVPA between Bayaka and Bandongo youth. Participants spent a large portion of their daily time engaging in MVPA (mean: 4.1 hours per day), which is much greater than similarly-aged American youth. Girls in each community engaged in more hours of MVPA than boys, averaging 4.8 hours compared to boys’ 3.7. (p<0.05). Across both communities, the youngest and middle-aged children participated in more MVPA than older adolescents (p<0.01). These results indicate the high levels of demanding physical activity that these children engage in on a daily basis in their rainforest communities, which could be an important health consideration if they face marginal nutritional conditions. Subsequent analyses will compare Bayaka and Bandongo children's physical activity to their anthropometric measures.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a key protein upregulated by physical activity (PA) and may influence adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Recent work suggests that the Val66Met polymorphism reduces secretion of activity-dependent BDNF, which may negatively impact brain health. Genomic analyses identified evidence of positive selection at the BDNF genomic region, specifically the Val66-carrying haplotype. However, it is unclear how the Val66Met polymorphism interacts with PA to potentially affect brain structure, limiting our understanding of selection on the BDNF gene. Here, we used data from the UK Biobank to examine left and right hippocampal volumes, genotype data, and both moderate physical activity (MPA) and vigorous physical activity (VPA) via device-measured actigraphy data in middle-aged to older adults (N=14,203). In general linear models, there was no interaction between MPA and Val66Met for left and right hippocampal volumes (P>0.05). However, there was a significant interaction between VPA and Val66Met for left hippocampal volume (P=0.004; 𝜷=1.41e03) and right hippocampal volume (P=0.04; 𝜷=1.01e03). VPA significantly predicted left (P=0.011; 𝜷=3.66e02) and right hippocampal volumes (P=0.028; 𝜷=3.26e02) exclusively for Met carriers (N=4,884). These results suggest that the interaction of PA with Val66Met polymorphism on hippocampal volume may be intensity-dependent and the relationships between VPA and hippocampal volumes may vary by Val66Met genotype. Carriers may possess an activity-dependent BDNF mechanism linking VPA with larger hippocampal volumes. We hypothesize that the Met allele may have been advantageous in ancestral environments characterized by high VPA demands, whereas in modern environments, the Val/Val genotype is now favored for promoting brain health.

Accelerometry, an objective measure of physical activity (PA), is used by human biologists to understand childhood energy expenditure and PA patterns within lower-income countries. However, PA and related health outcomes have not been studied using accelerometry in low-resource areas of high-income countries. This pilot study assesses the feasibility of accelerometry use for measuring PA in 28 children (ages 3-12, 46% female) from two low-resource communities in the Mississippi Delta and Southwestern Illinois. We present accelerometry metrics (i.e., average acceleration [a measure of activity volume], intensity gradient [a measure of activity intensity]) that allow for greater cross-study comparisons than metrics more commonly used in human biology research that depend on population and device specific cutoffs (e.g., time spent in moderate to vigorous PA [MVPA]). Participants wore an Axivity AX3 accelerometer on their non-dominant wrist and met the study wear time requirement (10+ hours/day, 4+ days). Parents and children completed PA questionnaires and interviews about their experience with the device. While 54% of children found the band uncomfortable at times, 89% said they would wear an accelerometer again. Pearson’s correlations demonstrate that MVPA was correlated with average acceleration (r(26) = 0.95, p <0.0001) and intensity gradient (r(26) = 0.54, p = 0.002). This study suggests that wrist-worn accelerometers are feasible for measuring children’s PA in low-resource U.S. communities. Improving our understanding and reporting of childhood PA in low-resource U.S. communities will clarify how these environments influence childhood activity patterns and related risk factors (e.g., body composition, bone density/health) for adult disease.

The bacteria killing assay (BKA) is a versatile method for evaluating the innate immune response by measuring the bactericidal capacity of biological fluids. We present an optimized protocol for a saliva-based BKA, which offers a non-invasive and functional approach to assess immune competence in human populations. The protocol includes critical steps for saliva collection, storage, and preparation of bacterial solutions. We tested the effects of freeze/thaw cycles, heat inactivation, storage conditions, and salivary flow rate on bacterial killing capacity. Results showed that multiple freeze/thaw cycles did not significantly affect the percentage of bacteria killed, indicating the stability of samples across various handling conditions. Additionally, salivary flow rate had a moderate positive correlation with killing capacity, though not statistically significant in this dataset. An 8-minute heat inactivation at 42°C was sufficient to reduce contamination while preserving sample integrity. Saliva samples stored at room temperature exhibited reduced killing capacity compared to samples stored at -20°C and -80°C. The assay also demonstrated consistent stability across repeated samples collected from the same individuals, indicating low within-person variability. The protocol was further tested using different bacterial species, demonstrating its utility across various pathogens. This protocol is especially advantageous for large-scale epidemiological studies due to its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and adaptability for field research. The findings underscore the reliability of the saliva-based BKA as a functional measure of innate immune function, with significant applications in ecoimmunology and human health.

The lifestyles and worldviews of Indigenous communities have long been deeply intertwined with natural resources, particularly water. However, these vital resources are now severely threatened by systemic social marginalization and the enduring impacts of colonization, further violating the human right to water access. Our primary objective was to assess the extent of water insecurity and explore its sociocultural associations in a Pilagá community in Formosa, Argentina. This mixed-methods cross-sectional study, conducted in 2023, involved data collection from Pilagá households representing 59 family clusters, covering all family units in the community. We employed a pre-validated HWISE survey. Qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The average age of participants was 36.8 ± 12.7 years, with most being women, who primarily handled the task of fetching water. Water insecurity was prevalent, affecting 62% of households, most of which depended on well pumps. In response, households engaged in resource sharing, which strained relationships around water access. Through an ecological model, we identified multiple interrelated contextual factors, revealing that shifts in one area had ripple effects across others. Key factors included water sources, cultural perceptions of water, resource distribution, and social dynamics around water. The Pilagá community confronts pervasive water insecurity within a challenging and evolving socio-ecological landscape.

Pathogen exposure from unsanitary living conditions can damage the gut, leading to decreased barrier integrity and poor nutrient absorption. This subclinical condition – termed environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) – is the reality for millions of children globally and is now recognized as the world’s leading cause of childhood growth faltering. Problematically, assessment of EED requires invasive procedures, such as venipuncture blood sampling. This approach is not practical and is burdensome for many groups, especially children living in low-to-middle income countries where EED is common. Recent research has shown that zonulin is a biomarker for the intestinal permeability aspect of EED pathophysiology, due to its role in the regulation of tight junctions in epithelial cells. Here, we validate the measurement of a zonulin in minimally invasive finger-prick dried blood spot (DBS) samples using a commercially available ELISA kit (Elabscience, E-EL-H5560). Following initial assay optimization, zonulin was measured in the ‘Waco100’ matched DBS and serum sample set. Zonulin was reliably detected in all DBS samples (mean = 4.963±4.383 pg/mL) and exhibited a strong linear relationship between DBS and serum values (r2 = 0.96; Passing-Bablok regression). Additional validation testing indicated acceptable metrics for spike and recovery (101.5±12.7% recovery), dilutional linearity (96.4±15.5% recovery), and freeze-thaw/hot-cold analyte stability (all effects p > 0.05). These results demonstrate strong performance and reliability for measuring zonulin in DBS samples. Human biologists are ideally positioned to use this minimally invasive zonulin measurement approach to advance the study of EED and to investigate the pathways of growth faltering across diverse populations.

En años recientes, el gobierno de la ciudad de Xalapa, Veracruz ha implementado un sistema de suministro intermitente de agua para cubrir la creciente demanda de una población en aumento y un déficit en la disponibilidad resultado de cambios en la hidrología de la región asociados a la deforestación y el cambio climático. Se ha documentado que este tipo de suministro tiene efectos negativos en la infraestructura y la calidad del agua. Sin embargo, son pocos los trabajos que se han ocupado del impacto de esta forma de inseguridad hídrica en la vida diaria y el bienestar de quienes la padecen, en particular, en la de mujeres cabezas de familia, a quienes comúnmente se asigna la gestión del agua como parte de sus responsabilidades de cuidados. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue recabar, mediante entrevistas en profundidad, las experiencias asociadas al abasto racionado e intermitente de agua, las estrategias para hacerle frente y las repercusiones directas e indirectas en las decisiones cotidianas y la salud psicosocial de mujeres habitantes en colonias populares de la ciudad. Se discuten los efectos del desabasto en términos económicos, de tiempo y de salud y bienestar percibidos, así como el impacto de la incertidumbre en las dinámicas familiares y convivencia comunitarias.

Breast/chest-feeding is a form of parental investment with health benefits for infants and lactating people. Presently, there is reportedly rising tension between public health messaging to increase breast/chest-feeding rates and the felt pressure to breast/chest-feed among birthing parents. This tension has the potential to negatively impact efforts to promote breast/chest-feeding. The aim of this study was to apply an interdisciplinary approach combining an evolutionary biological perspective and an engaged feminist philosophy approach of embodiment to breast/chest-feeding, to account for the deep connections between experiences and emotions with our human biology and evolutionary history. Semi-structured interviews with first-time mothers in Veracruz, Mexico (n=25), and infant data (n=25) on anthropometric measurements, symptoms of infection, and feeding practices were analyzed. Results suggest that breastfeeding decreased the risk of infection, but the introduction of milk formula soon after birth at hospitals was a barrier that hindered breastfeeding practices and mothers experienced shame and guilt when unable to breastfeed as planned. Understanding the experiences of mothers with a feminist analysis of shame and guilt can provide insights into why current efforts to promote breast/chest-feeding are not working and inform future public health messaging committed to health equity and justice to center the reported lived experiences of mothers, provide insights into the complicated realities of breast/chest-feeding, and deliver practical support. This study offers an interdisciplinary approach to interchange knowledge and perspectives regarding human lactation research and contributes to the area of human biology that utilizes qualitative approaches to understand the multifaceted factors that impact human biology.

Severe iron deficiency can increase risk for cognitive or behavioral delays during a young child’s growth and development. Phytate compounds in cereal grains can prevent iron absorption, limiting access to this crucial micronutrient. Corn flour porridge and ugali, a starch-based dish served with stew, remain staple foods for many households in Sub-Saharan Africa. While eating corn flour has been associated with iron deficiency among infants, the nutritional consequences of corn flour consumption among young children are unclear. We explored the relationship between corn flour consumption and iron nutrition status in children (2-4 years) in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. 24-hour dietary recalls were recorded for 281 children over 12 months while blood biomarkers were analyzed to estimate rates of iron deficiency (zinc protoporphyrin:heme ratio) and anemia (hemoglobin). At baseline, ugali consumption is reported in over 55% of children while 19.6% of children were iron deficient. Estimates of daily iron intake will be estimated from these dietary recalls via nutrient analysis software (NutritionistPro, Axxya). We will use logistic regression models to estimate the relationship between iron status and corn flour consumption and explore if increased consumption corresponds to reduced iron absorption. Surprisingly, our previous analysis suggests tea consumption, which is also high in phytates, among these children was associated with lower risk for anemia (OR: 0.51, 95% CI: 0.26 - 1.03). In light of these surprising findings, it is important to assess corn flour as another dietary staple as a risk factor for iron deficiency.

US-based research shows that Group antenatal care (ANC) effectively improves outcomes, including reduced preterm births, increased breastfeeding rates, and better pregnancy spacing. Group ANC has been adapted in dozens of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In 2016, WHO recommended increasing ANC contacts from four (ANC4+) to eight (ANC8+) and emphasized respectful care; they identified Group ANC as a promising service delivery model in need of rigorous research. We filled this gap by completing an effectiveness trial in Blantyre, Malawi, hypothesizing that Group ANC would increase ANC attendance and lead to fewer low birth weight (LBW) newborns. Group effects on outcomes were evaluated using t-tests, Mann-Whitney, or Chi-squared tests. Multivariable linear regression or logistic regression models, adjusted for covariates, for post-intervention outcomes were used to assess effectiveness. Participants in Group ANC had more ANC contacts than those in Individual ANC (5.6 vs 4.8; p < 0.0001); the regression model showed a positive impact of Group ANC (Estimate = 0.74). Those in Group ANC were 1.64 times and 3.27 times more likely to complete ANC4+ and ANC8+ (16.9% Group vs 5.8% Individual), respectively. Covariates associated with the mean number and ANC4+ outcomes were education, age, residence, and client-to-midwife ratios. Age was the only factor related to ANC8+. At 9.5% in Individual and 11.0% in Group ANC, LBW rates were not significantly different (p = 0.344). Despite no impact on LBW, this study shows that Group ANC significantly increases healthcare utilization and highlights its potential to improve maternal and infant outcomes in LMICs.

Bone mineral density (BMD) is a clinical measure for predicting fracture and osteoporosis risk and can be estimated using ultrasonometry. While weight-bearing bones (e.g., tibia, calcaneus) are more commonly measured, distal forearm (i.e., radial) BMD (rBMD) may better predict fracture risk in the forearm and axial skeleton. Moreover, rBMD may more accurately reflect density in skeletal sites not greatly influenced by activity patterns, unlike weight-bearing bones. Here we present preliminary data on rBMD in females from two groups: a NYC-based cohort and rural, subsistence-level Indigenous Ecuadorian Shuar.

Participants included 33 Shuar and 38 NYC females (ages 18–40). Anthropometric measures were collected (height, weight, %body fat) using standard procedures and rBMD was estimated using a MiniOmni ultrasonometer targeting the distal radius of the non-dominant arm.

Mann-Whitney test identified significantly lower rBMD (Shuar: 4029, NYC: 4091 m/s), lower % body fat (Shuar: 22.6, NYC: 28.6%), and smaller body size (i.e., height and weight) among Shuar compared to NYC participants. Multivariate regression revealed that group affiliation and age, but not % body fat, were significant predictors of rBMD. Significance was defined as p ≤ 0.05.

While previous research shows higher calcaneal BMD among Shuar compared to other populations, the present analysis indicates comparatively lower rBMD. These findings suggest other factors, aside from physical activity, influence rBMD and highlight the importance of measuring multiple sites for a complete picture of skeletal health. Future research should also investigate the influence of other variables (e.g., reproductive status) to better understand rBMD in these two groups.

Extremes in precipitation are increasingly impacting the health of mobile pastoralists and their livestock in Northern Kenya. Qualitative interviews with Rendille people reveal interrelated changes in movement patterns and extended time away from home during prolonged dry periods, which is contributing to increased exposure to heat, vector- and water-borne diseases, and mental ill-health, especially following animal loss. Here, we highlight new insights from two surveys with Rendille people – one with women who remain in semi-permanent settlements (n=40) and one with men who spend months away from home to take their animals for grazing, sometimes traveling as far as 200-300 km (n=40). Focusing on recent droughts and recent flash floods, we review participants’ experiences of impacts on their physical and mental health, their responses to these impacts, and how participants’ responses affect their health in turn. Building on these results, we discuss the multiple future directions of our collaboration, including documenting longitudinally the health impacts, both positive and negative, of climate-related mobility and risk-management strategies.

Epigenetic clocks estimate biological aging based on patterns of methylation within the genome. Epigenetic clocks have been shown to be accelerated, reflecting faster aging, by a range of unhealthy exposures or lifestyle factors and to prospectively predict higher risk for all cause mortality. Here we explore relationships between a suite of epigenetic clocks and diurnal rhythms of cortisol, a key stress hormone known to mediate relationships between stress experience and health. Data come from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS), a one-year birth cohort study established in 1983-1984. In 2005, when cohort members were 20-22 years old, waking, 30-minute post-waking and pre-bed saliva samples were collected to characterize diurnal cortisol curves, while whole blood was obtained and used to measure DNA methylation at ~850k CpG sites using the Illumina EPIC array. We calculated first-generation clocks trained on chronological age (Horvath, Hannum), second-generation clocks trained on suites of health indicators and mortality (PhenoAge, GrimAge, DNAmTL) and a third-generation clock trained on the pace of change in aging-related biomarkers (DunedinPACE). Relationships were most consistent with bedtime cortisol (reflecting chronic strain); all clocks related in the expected direction, and reached statistical signicance for the GrimAge (r=0.146, p=1.16x10^-8), PhenoAge (r=0.112, p=1.38x10^-5), and DunedinePACE 38 (r=0.063, p=.014) and 45 (r=0.078, p=0.002) clocks. Relationships were less consistent with total cortisol exposure and diurnal slope, but generally pointed to slower aging among individuals with more-robust waking responses. These findings point to plausible relationships between stress physiology and epigenetic markers of aging measured in young adulthood.

Evolutionary theories of social development hypothesize that children’s social behavior is adaptive to their developmental stage while also serving as practice for sex-typical adult social behavior. Therefore, the social relationships in which children invest time and effort are expected to vary with age and sex. Older children and adolescents are expected to engage with more non-kin playmates as they integrate into the broader community. Because adult men generally have larger social networks than women, boys are expected to develop larger play networks than girls as they age. We predicted that older children, especially boys, would have larger networks composed of more non-kin. We surveyed 109 children ages 5 to 17 in Utila, Honduras. Participants self-reported up to eight individuals with whom they had played during the last month. Additional information about playmates included their age, sex, and kin relation to the participant. Using Poisson generalized linear models we tested regressions of playmate count for various playmate identities against participant age and sex. Both boys and girls named fewer immediate kin as playmates with age (β = -0.213, p = 0.002). However, only girls named fewer of all kin types with age (β = -0.071, p = 0.049). Conversely, only boys’ number of non-kin playmates increased with age (β = 0.104, p = 0.015). Investigation of play network sex-segregation with age followed a similar pattern: girls’ playmate networks changed more through the reduction of certain categories of playmates with age whereas boys' networks changed through the increase of other categories.

Oxidative stress (OS), the imbalance between reactive oxygen species and antioxidant defenses, plays an important role in human health and aging. OS damage to nucleic acids and other macromolecules is associated with numerous inflammatory, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative conditions. Problematically, relatively little attention has been given to OS in children and adolescents, despite clear implications of early life OS for human life history evolution and public health. Here, we use pilot data to test if OS—measured using first morning urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a biomarker of systemic DNA oxidation—is cross-sectionally associated with select anthropometric and socioeconomic variables among children and adolescents (n = 21, aged 4-12 y) living in a low-resource community in Southwestern Illinois. Initial linear regression findings indicate that OS is negatively associated with BMI z-scores (b = -0.24, p = 0.047), contradictory to the positive relationship typically found in overweight/obese clinical samples. Though not significant, positive trends were also identified between OS and measures of both food and water insecurity (both p < 0.2). These findings suggest that in low-resource settings, greater energy availability may allow for more energetic investment in endogenous antioxidant defenses, limiting OS. Our findings also highlight potentially important pathways for the embodiment of resource insecurity that may be detectable in this context with larger samples. We build on these findings using additional OS biomarkers to further understand the ecological and social drivers of child OS variation and their implications for human energetic trade-offs, lifetime health, and the development of population health inequities.

Life history theory predicts that the costs of reproduction trade off with self-maintenance. In humans, maternal investment is metabolically expensive, and complex physiological adaptations support offspring development across pregnancy and lactation. We know that the maternal skeleton acts as a critical reservoir of essential nutrients and a regulator of metabolic homeostasis. Therefore, it is an ideal organ system to study how calcium—a critical nutrient for a growing fetus—is rerouted from the mother to meet the growing needs of her rapidly developing offspring. Here we aim to systematically review the literature on changes in maternal bone density across reproduction, especially during lactation when calcium output is the highest. It is well established that osteocalcin (OCN), a protein secreted by osteoblasts, aids in bone formation and glucose metabolism. The levels of OCN during pregnancy and lactation are linked to parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentrations. This is of interest because PTH plays a crucial role in maintaining calcium balance and facilitating fetal transport throughout pregnancy. Although the relationship between PTH and OCN presents a unique model to understand the trade-off between maternal bone maintenance with reproductive investment, our preliminary results show that there is conflicting evidence regarding osteocalcin's involvement in bone formation and metabolic regulation, alongside varying opinions on the relationship between PTH and OCN. This work highlights the roles of osteocalcin and parathyroid hormone from an evolutionary perspective, to better understand the mechanisms governing this life history trade-off during reproduction.

Sub-optimal intake of whole grains, fruits, and sodium accounted for over 50% of diet related deaths in the U.S. in 2019 studies. In recent years, juicing is often promoted as a convenient way to increase fruit and vegetable intake, with juice-only diets marketed for digestive cleansing and overall health improvement. However, juicing removes most insoluble fiber, which may diminish the health benefits of whole fruits and vegetables. Lower fiber intake can alter the microbiota, affecting metabolism, immunity, and mental health, though little is known about juicing's specific effects on the microbiota.

This study addresses this gap by exploring how juicing impacts gut and oral microbiome composition. Fourteen participants followed one of three diets—exclusive juice, juice plus food, or plant-based food—for three days. Microbiota samples (stool, saliva, and cheek swabs) were collected at baseline, pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 14 days post-intervention. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was used to analyze microbiota composition.

Results revealed changes in oral microbiota, particularly in the families Streptococcaceae and Neisseriaceae, potentially due to high sugar and low fiber intake. Although no significant shifts in overall gut microbiome diversity were observed, certain taxa associated with gut permeability, inflammation, and cognitive decline increased. These findings suggest that short-term juice consumption may negatively affect the microbiota, highlighting the need for further research on diet-microbiome-disease interactions to inform dietary recommendations.

In research with subsistence societies, peer rankings are often used to measure important cultural domains, such as subsistence productivity and ethnomedical knowledge. A benefit of this method is the ability to gain cultural insights from residents with longer-term community knowledge. However, aspects of local cultural practices and research design can contribute to inaccuracies using this approach. As part of a larger study in the Republic of the Congo, we asked fathers from BaYaka forager and Bandongo fisher-farmer communities to rank other fathers on the health of their children and evaluated indicators fathers might use for such rankings. Fathers with more living children were ranked as having healthier children in each community (p<0.01), even after adjusting for fathers’ age, which likewise correlated positively with health rankings. Since physical measures are often used to indicate health, we also analyzed anthropometrics and found that Bandongo children had thicker skinfolds and higher weight-for-height when their fathers were ranked as having healthier children (p<0.01). However, Bayaka rankings were not significantly associated with anthropometrics. The lack of correlation between BaYaka rankings and anthropometrics may result from cultural differences between communities. Bayaka are more egalitarian, cooperate in parenting, and pool resources, reducing variation in nutrition and growth. Bayaka egalitarianism and aversion to hierarchy may also make it challenging for men to rank one another in this domain. These results provide some support for the use of peer-ranking methods but also reflect how cultural dynamics might limit the approach in specific domains depending on the community.

Social support is an important predictor of maternal and child health outcomes, but localized social and cultural norms are likely to impact support pathways. Among Hispanic (Latina) women, degree of acculturation is a key indicator of these norms. Because breastfeeding requires extensive social and informational support, acculturation may affect social support, and in turn impact breastfeeding outcomes. While studies have investigated the impacts of acculturation and social support on breastfeeding separately, I aim to understand how these two factors interact. Here, I test how social support affects the pathway between acculturation and breastfeeding outcomes among Puerto Rican women living in the mainland US by integrating methods and concepts from public health and evolutionary anthropology. Utilizing data from the Puerto Rican Maternal and Infant Health Study (PRMIHS), I use structural equation modeling to understand the relationship between language acculturation and social acculturation, emotional support, instrumental support, and 5 different breastfeeding outcomes in a cohort of n=1,222 Puerto Rican women who gave birth in the mainland US in 1995-1996. Results support the notion that level of acculturation is inversely related to breastfeeding outcomes. Specifically, social acculturation was inversely related to whether the mother was advised to breastfeed or not (p = 0.001). Language acculturation was also significantly related to instrumental support and emotional support; women who utilized Spanish more than English received more instrumental support (p = 0.009) and more emotional support (p = 0.008). There were no significant effects on different forms of support and breastfeeding outcomes.

Research highlights potential health benefits of connectedness to nature (i.e., an experiential sense of oneness with nature) as well as time spent in nature, including for stress, wellbeing, and immune function. However, these results are largely restricted to samples from the Global North and are unexplored among Indigenous cultures, many of which view humans as an intrinsic part of nature and whose traditional ceremonies reinforce this “cosmovision”. We explored the relationship between connectedness to nature (CN), participation in traditional ceremonies, sleep, and self-reported physical and mental health in a sample of rural and urban Wixárika adults (n=127, mean age=34, 68.5% female). We predicted that greater CN and participation in ceremonies would be associated with better health and sleep measures. Rural participants reported worse physical and mental health, but greater CN (p<0.001 for all) and more frequent ceremony participation (p=0.001). There were no effects of CN and ceremony participation on objective and subjective sleep measures. In regression models, there was an interaction effect between CN and location, such that greater CN predicted better physical (b = -1.125, p=0.009) and mental (b = -0.86, p=0.04) health in the rural location only. The effect on physical health remained after adjusting for ceremony participation (b = -0.92, p=0.03). Frequent (b = -0.75, p=0.03) and very frequent (b = -0.81, p=0.02) ceremony participation were also directly related to better physical health in both locations. Our findings highlight the importance of nature and ceremonial participation for Wixárika health in a wider context of rural-urban migration.

1Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX

Child growth faltering in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains a primary global health concern. In Kenya, rural-living groups, such as Maasai, receive limited institutional support and face other socioeconomic and environmental challenges that may drive disruption of children’s growth. Here, we use pilot data from a new project to investigate the impact of two key ecological factors – pathogen exposure and water insecurity – on childhood growth among rural-living Maasai in Oloirouwa, Kenya. Data were collected from 177 children (aged 4-12 years) living in 100 households across six communities. Measures included standard anthropometry, household conditions, and the household water insecurity experiences (HWISE) scale. Descriptive analyses indicate a high degree of pathogen exposure (e.g., 79% of households have no toilet/latrine) and water insecurity (37% of all households HWISE > 12), as well as common child growth faltering (24% stunted, 21% underweight, 20% wasted). Results from mixed models identified having no toilet/latrine as a significant predictor of linear growth. Children from households with no toilet/latrine had lower height-for-age z-score (β = -0.76, SE = 0.29, p = 0.011) and 1.4 times greater odds of stunting (p = 0.017). Trends were also observed for potential effects of water insecurity on child growth (p < 0.1), but these did not reach significance in preliminary models. These initial findings highlight the impact of ecological factors on children’s growth among Maasai. Future analyses will further investigate the role of water insecurity in the adversity-growth axis among Maasai and other children in LMICs.

Support: CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars Program; Baylor University

As women progress through the menopause transition, there is increasing risk for cardiovascular disease and other health concerns. Here, we have an opportunity to examine blood pressure (BP) among women aged 35 to 60 drawn from 6 rural communities (n=125) in the Brazilian Amazon. Data were collected with face-to-face interviews and included anthropometric and BP measurements. Age categories roughly correspond to pre-, peri-, and post-menopausal categories. Among women aged 50 to 60 years, mean systolic BP was significantly higher (138.1 mmhg, s.d. 24.1; n=39) compared to women aged 45 to 49 (125.5 mmhg, s.d. 22.9, n=34) and 35 to 44 years (116.2 mmhg, s.d. 16.5; n=52) (p<0.001). The same pattern was true for diastolic BP, which was highest among women aged 50 to 60 years (86.6 mmhg, s.d.16.2) compared to women aged 45 to 49 (82.0 mmhg, s.d. 17.5) and 35 to 44 years (77.8 mmhg, s.d. 12.8) (p=0.026). Body mass index (BMI, kg/m2), waist circumference, and waist/height ratio (but not waist/hip ratio) increased significantly with age so that women aged 50 to 60 years had the highest values. Systolic and diastolic BP measurements were significantly positively correlated with BMI, waist circumference, and waist/height ratio (but not waist/hip ratio). After adjusting for smoking, quilombola/caboclo status, and adiposity, age continued to be positively associated with systolic BP, but not consistently associated with diastolic BP. The increase in BP among women aged 50 and older suggests post-menopausal status may play a role, as in other rural and urban populations.

Introduction: The Casas Grandes region in northwest Chihuahua, Mexico, is a key area for examining interactions between the Southwest/Northwest and Mesoamerica due to its unique geographical position. Previous research has proposed that the growth of the Casas Grandes population in the thirteenth century AD was driven by migrations from Mesoamerica or the US Southwest. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of full mitochondrial genetic data from individuals buried at archaeological sites spanning both earlier (the Convento site), and later (the Paquimé site) time periods to reassess these migration hypotheses.

Methods: Tooth and bone samples were collected from human remains at the Museo de las Culturas del Norte (Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico), in accordance with Mexican laws and ethical regulations. We selected samples from areas across the two sites to examine genetic distribution and chronometric variability.

Results: 116 samples provided sufficient preserved DNA for haplogroup determination (Convento burials=16; Paquimé burials=100). Sequencing success rates were similar across both sites. While test of haplogroup frequencies revealed differences between the time periods (p=0.0366 for Fisher’s Exact), sequencing of the mitogenome revealed shared maternal lineages across all chronometric time periods. Median Joining Networks comparing mitogenomes from across the Americas also revealed common haplotype lineages between widely dispersed populations.

Discussion: The Casas Grandes region likely did not experience significant migration between the Viejo and Medio periods, as any such migration had minimal impact on mitochondrial DNA. Instead of being passive recipients of external influences, the construction of Paquimé reflects internal ingenuity, social solidarity, and proactive change.

Perceived Economic Insecurity (PEI), defined as the inability to access sufficient resources to protect against immediate or future adverse circumstances, may be linked to worse health outcomes via the stress response. There is a paucity of research in Mexico on the dynamics between PEI and Food Insecurity (FI), which are both characterized by unpredictability. This mixed-method study aims to test, for the first time, associations between PEI, FI, and chronic stress from a biocultural perspective, as well as explore resilience strategies employed by women facing FI in an urban environment. Participants were recruited via the Cucharada de Amor Foundation, a non-profit organization that runs a foodbank service in the city of Minatitlán, Mexico. Primary quantitative survey data were collected to assess PEI, FI, and chronic stress. A sub-sample of participants were invited to take part in a semi-structured interview to explore the lived experience of economic insecurity, resilience strategies, and perceptions of mental wellbeing. Both PEI and FI were positively associated with higher levels of perceived chronic stress (p<0.005). Interview findings suggested that PEI and FI are not always experienced simultaneously as other non-income dependent strategies to access food, even in an urban environment, may act as a buffer. PEI was experienced as a major stressor, beyond inadequate and uncertain access to essential resources such as food, via greater exposure to violence, pollution, and barriers to healthcare. Our findings suggest that attention should be paid to PEI in generating chronic stress, as a key facet of structural violence.

Preeclampsia and gestational diabetes are significant contributing factors to maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States. Utilizing a local biologies perspective with a focus on syndemics, this analysis explores how immigration-related social vulnerabilities may contribute to the high and increasing prevalence rates of preeclampsia and gestational diabetes among Latinas. Past research has shown that these conditions are related to biosocial processes, highlighting a need to better understand the role of social vulnerabilities in the clinical manifestation of these pregnancy complications. Drawing from a study of 176 pregnant Latina border residents utilizing publicly funded prenatal care, this analysis uses medical records, survey responses, and in-depth interviews to explore social vulnerabilities related to gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. The sample had a 24.9% prevalence rate of preeclampsia, compared to the national rate of approximately 5%, and a 24.9% prevalence rate of gestational diabetes, compared to the national rate of approximately 8.3%. A subset of interview data from participants who were US citizens shows how the effect of restrictive immigration policies and concerns over close family members contributed to social vulnerabilities. Survey data including the Kessler-10 emotional distress scale further emphasizes how pervasive feelings of distress for this subgroup were, as individuals who were concerned about the immigration status of immediate family members had higher levels of emotional distress (b = 3.27, p-value = 0.036). These findings emphasize the significant health effects of immigration policies, beyond concerns for one’s own immigration status, and the wide-reaching impact of immigration policies on borderland residents.

Chronic inflammation is thought to be both energetically costly and damaging to long-term health. We investigated the relationship between C-reactive protein (CRP), measured from dried blood spots, and energy status, assessed from body weight, body fat, and body mass index (BMI), among Daasanach semi-nomadic pastoralist adults in northern Kenya. Anthropometric data including height, body mass, and body fat (measured using bioelectric impedance), along with CRP (assayed from dried blood spots), were analyzed for n = 136 Daasanach adults (age ≥ 18 years) surveyed in 2019. Median (Q1, Q3) CRP was 0.94 mg/dL (0.34 mg/dL, 2.53 mg/dL). We used a linear model to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and natural log-transformed CRP, controlling for age and sex, and found no relationship between BMI and log(CRP) (β = 0.051; 95% CI: -0.074 – 0.176)., body fat percentage was significantly positively associated with log(CRP) (β = 0.049; 95% CI: 0.007 – 0.091). Results support the hypothesis that energy status, and specifically caloric reserves in the form of body fat, are required to sustain elevated immune activation. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature examining the etiology and epidemiology of chronic inflammation, suggesting that excess energetic availability may be permissive of elevated immune activation, with broad implications for human health and disease.

Funding: The National Science Foundation (NSF REU #1852406; NSF CNH2-S #1924322) funded this work.

C-Reactive Protein (CRP), a biomarker of inflammation, varies by population, environment, and sex. Understanding CRP variability is essential for identifying factors affecting inflammation and disease risk. This pilot study measured CRP in Quechua women from a Peruvian highland farming community. Here we explored demographic/socioeconomic predictors of CRP and its associations with health variables. Data was collected from 50 participants (anthropometry. blood pressure (BP), and interviews regarding demographic, socioeconomic, and dietary factors). Blood samples were collected via finger-prick, and stored, transferred, and analyzed using standard laboratory protocols. Due to missing information, 43 samples were retained in statistical analyses. CRP levels ranged from 0.077-2.440 mg/L (median = 0.206 mg/L, confidence interval 0.271- 0.601), all within the normal range (<3 mg/L). Age, socioeconomic status, education, household crowding, and weekly meat consumption did not predict CRP. Weekly fish consumption showed a weak U-shaped association with CRP (r=0.24), with lowest CRP at intermediate intakes. BMI exhibited a moderate, inverted U-shaped association (r=0.50), with CRP peaking at intermediate BMIs. BP showed a weak U-shaped association (r=0.21 systolic, r=0.24 diastolic), with CRP highest at intermediate BPs. In conclusion, CRP was low, consistent with other Andean communities, perhaps due to long-term adaptations to high-altitude environments. Moderate and weak associations between CRP and BMI, and CRP and BP (respectively) are non-linear, suggesting that other physiological factors may modulate CRP levels. These findings underscore the importance of population-specific research to understand environmental and lifestyle influences on CRP variability and inflammation-related health risks.

Housing insecurity is stressful and harms health and well-being. Illicit substance use, though stigmatized, is often described as “self-medication” among people experiencing houselessness (PEH). It is unclear, however, if substance use exacerbates or mitigates health issues for PEH. This analysis explores how substance use is related to physiological health among PEH.

Data were collected from 86 PEH, ages 20-74 (M=49.5, SD=12) years with 79% self-identifying as men. Data collection occurred at a local park and service center emphasizing community-defined ethical procedures. Biomarker data were normalized (final N=52) and analyzed using Principal Component Analysis.

Five factors emerged: Factor 1 (23.5%): highest factor loadings for systolic (.933) and diastolic (.891) blood pressure. Factor 2 (17.6%): total cholesterol (.965) and LDL (.867). Factor 3 (14.0%): hemoglobin (.720), HDL (-.769), and triglycerides (.690). Factor 4 (11.2%): glucose (.727), HBA1c (.756), and cortisol (.632). Factor 5 (10.1%): heart rate (.901). Factor 2 was correlated with use of cannabis (-.357, p = .010) and stimulants (-.312, p = .044). Alcohol use was correlated with Factor 3 (-.370, p = .007) and Factor 5 (-.426, p = .002). Hallucinogenic use was correlated with Factor 3 (-.457, p = .003).

These results suggest that substance use within PEH may support certain facets of health. This counterintuitive finding suggests that expectations of health harms from substance use should be tempered by context-specific considerations, especially for populations with limited access to healthcare who may use substances to manage physical and psychological symptoms.

Funding Source: NSF (BCS-2317286).

Rationale: Guatemala has long faced high levels of child undernutrition, particularly among indigenous populations. Breastfeeding practices and maternal nutritional status are key factors influencing children's nutritional outcomes. The relationship between breastfeeding, maternal anthropometry, and childhood nutritional status is not linear and varies according to indigenous status (Maya/non-Maya).

Methods: We analysed data from 10,367 mothers-child dyads, retrieved from the 2015 Guatemala Demographic Health Survey (DHS). Predictor variables included breastfeeding frequency and duration, and maternal nutritional status assessed via anthropometric measures. Covariates included indigenous status, maternal education, marital status, language spoken at home, and wealth index. The outcome variables measured were child stunting, wasting, underweight, and anaemia.

Results: Prolonged breastfeeding was linked to an increased likelihood of stunting in Maya children but a decreased likelihood among non-Maya children. Being Maya increased the odds of childhood stunting and underweight but reduced the likelihood of wasting. Maternal stunting was directly associated with child stunting and underweight, whilst maternal BMI was significantly associated to child wasting. Maya children faced a higher risk of stunting when mothers reported a lower wealth index, a larger household size, lower education levels, and moderate anaemia.

Conclusion: Maternal anthropometric characteristics and breastfeeding practices have a significant impact on child nutritional status in Guatemala, with the Maya population facing higher risks for adverse outcomes.

Border-related socioenvironmental stressors may exert unique influences on the health of communities living along the United States (US)-Mexico border. In this project, we investigated how social, cultural, and immigration-related stressors were associated with psychological distress and self-reported mental and physical health in a cohort of pregnant Latinas living in El Paso, Texas. We conducted interviews with 176 Latinas receiving publicly funded prenatal care (2020-22). The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was used to assess psychological well-being, and participants were asked to self-report their overall physical and mental health on a five-point Likert scale. We used the Border Community and Immigration Stress Scale (BCISS) scale to assess social, cultural, and immigration-related stressors frequently experienced in border communities. We tested for associations between BCISS scores and health using linear regressions, adjusting for covariates including maternal age, parity, country of birth, and gestational age at interview. Lifetime BCISS scores adjusted for severity were the most strongly associated with maternal distress levels (b=2.12, p-value≤0.001), followed by the number of events experienced within the previous three months (b=1.50, p-value≤0.001). A similar pattern was found for self-reported mental health but not physical health. While participants born in Mexico had lower K10 scores, country of birth did not moderate the association between BCISS scores and psychological distress (p-value≥0.05). Our results suggest that stressors commonly experienced in border communities may exert unique effects on the burden of psychological distress experienced during pregnancy among Latinas living at the US-Mexico border.

A global increase in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has been attributed to population-level epidemiologic transitions; however, more research is needed to link regional social and economic changes to individual behaviors and health outcomes. Here, we assess the association between economic inequality and health outcomes within and between countries using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (n=1367) and the World Health Survey+ in Cambodia (n=5189). We conducted hierarchical regressions assessing relationships between biological variables (HbA1c, systolic blood pressure, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, and waist-to-height ratio) and demographic, social, and economic variables, including Gini index for household income at the community level in men and women.

At least one significant association between the biological measures and covariates was seen in all groups except HDL for Chinese women and Cambodian men. Education was significantly associated with multiple biological variables only in Chinese men. Marriage was significantly associated with multiple biological variables but varied throughout all models. Urban/rural location was significant for multiple biological variables for Chinese men and Cambodian men and women. Community-level household income inequality was only significantly associated with blood pressure in Chinese women.

Biological measurements of NCDs were found to be significantly associated with age, marriage, years of education, and urbanicity, while income inequality was only significantly associated with systolic blood pressure in Chinese women. These findings could have important implications for understanding how individual health is influenced by regional-level factors, especially in communities undergoing economic development.

The food security literature emphasizes household-level, monetary access to food. Yet, research shows that social access to food via sharing and exchange is also important. Studies on how social networks influence food access often characterize the practice as a short-term, coping mechanism in times of economic strain. However, a growing body of work argues that such networks may be a long-term food security strategy. To explore the role of social networks for securing food in this peri-urban Indigenous community we used the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA) to measure perceived food security and semi-structured name generator and interpreter interviews to measure egocentric networks contributing to subsistence activities. We used regression analysis to identify relationships between EBIA score and network measurements together with household demographic, dietary, and economic data. Results indicate increases in the network measures of eigenvector centrality (p≤0.01), a measure of each network actor’s prestige within the network, and total weighted network score (p≤ 0.01), which measures the weight of each actor’s incoming ties against the weight of their outgoing ties, are positively correlated with perceived food security. Additional regression analyses show that the independent variables of time of residence and network size and density are statistically significant. These findings indicate that multilayered, reciprocal food-sharing networks in urban environments can potentially lead to long-term, resilient means of access, particularly in marginalized, peripheral communities.

Introduction: Ancient DNA (aDNA) is defined by properties that include age, environment, and chemical activity. The alterations to DNA’s molecular structure inhibits traditional amplification methods and induces sequencing error. Given that DNA degradation patterns are sample specific, analyzing these patterns increases the likelihood of successful sampling. Non-destructive methods, such as those utilizing cementum, tend to yield higher amounts of endogenous DNA compared to traditional destructive methods using dentine or pulp; however, the resulting extract is single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). While double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) methods are well established, ssDNA library preparation is less so, although it increases coverage and success in sequencing short fragments when coupled with the high throughput of Next Generation Sequencing.

Methods: This study utilizes a non-destructive aDNA extraction protocol created by Murdoch (2024) that combines the Essel (2023) and Dabney (2019) methods. Subsequently, the Kapp, et al. (2021) ssDNA Santa Cruz Reaction (SCR) library preparation protocol is used to optimize degraded DNA in teeth from both forensic and historical contexts. SCR employs directional splinted ligation to convert ssDNA into sequencing libraries via a single enzymatic reaction. This method is resource efficient and decreases the loss of unique molecules for analyses.

Results: Library sequencing statistics were run for quality control, quantitation, and the identification of error. Future steps will be taken to trace lineage with the goal of identification.

Discussion: This project aims to validate the aforementioned methods and emphasizes its potential benefits in using genetic genealogy for identifying missing and unidentified persons.

Growing research has underscored the elevated prevalence and burden of neuropsychiatric morbidity among adults living with long COVID. Scientists have suggested that the severity of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection may predict the prevalence and severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms in long COVID. While countries in the Global South have faced among the highest incidence rates and burden of COVID-19, little is known about the neuropsychiatric symptoms of long COVID in these regions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to 1) compare the prevalence of long-term neuropsychiatric symptoms between acute COVID-19 infection groups; 2) estimate the associations between COVID-19 severity and long-term neuropsychiatric symptoms; and 3) determine the association between long COVID symptoms and neuropsychiatric symptoms. This observational study took place in Johannesburg, South Africa between August 2022 and July 2023. A total of 360 adults were categorised into one of four case groups based on their initial COVID-19 symptoms: asymptomatic, symptomatic, hospitalised, and a vaccinated control group. Prevalence rates of PTSD (21.1%) and somatic symptoms (23.2%) were elevated. Individuals with symptomatic COVID-19 exhibited the greatest neuropsychiatric morbidity out of all groups, exhibiting the highest levels of depression, suicidality, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, somatisation, and headaches. Acute COVID-19 severity was associated with worse symptoms of depression, somatisation, and physical fatigue. Severity of possible long COVID symptoms was directly associated with neuropsychiatric sequelae. These results call attention to the long-term neuropsychiatric sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection and early identification and management of emerging neuropsychiatric symptoms in high-risk COVID-19 survivors in South Africa.

Many low- and middle-income countries are experiencing rapid lifestyle transformations, including market integration (MI) and nutrition transition, with implications for children’s growth and metabolic health. Here, we investigate diet patterns and growth among the Shuar, an Indigenous Amazonian group in Ecuador experiencing wide variation in MI and emerging risk for obesity. Food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) were administered to 178 Shuar households between 2009-2017 and consumption estimates for 19 nutrients were generated. Children’s (n = 409, aged 0-12 years) height-for-age (HAZ) and BMI-for-age (BAZ) z-scores were calculated using WHO standards. Overall, 35.9% of children were stunted and 17.1% were overweight. Principal component analysis of FFQ data loaded onto 5 components, and 5 food groups were constructed using items loaded above a threshold. Children’s BAZ was negatively related to the consumption of foods in the 'Vegetables' group (β = -0.02, SE = 0.008, p = .02) and positively related to consumption of foods in the 'Market Junk Foods' group (β = 0.05, SE = 0.02, p = .003). Foods in the ‘Market Staples’ group were positively associated with HAZ (β = .023, SE = 0.01, p = .035). Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator analysis of household nutrients identified phosphorus consumption as the strongest predictor of child stunting. Each additional daily gram of phosphorus consumed reduced stunting likelihood by 0.32% after adjusting for confounding variables (β = -0.003, SE = 0.001, p = .007). These findings provide insight into the impact of dietary transition on Shuar child growth and metabolic health risk.

Introduction: Systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) is a chronic, multifactorial disease characterized by persistent elevation of blood pressure. It is considered one of the main cardiovascular risk factors, which worsens when there is no early and adequate diagnosis associated with an adverse clinical profile. Objective: To assess the health status of young adults with SAH phenotypes in primary care. Method: Population-based, multicenter (LapARC - Rio de Janeiro study arm), cross-sectional study. Our center is located in the municipality of Santarém, Pará, Brazil. Young adults (20 to 50 years old) were assessed in relation to their cardiovascular risk profile, sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometry and electrical bioimpedance. Office blood pressure (OBP) was measured and 7-day Home Blood Pressure Monitoring (HBPM) was carried out. Results: 182 people were assessed, 21.4% were men, the average age was 39.4 ± 7.9 and more than half of the population had abdominal obesity (58.8%), a sedentary lifestyle (56%) and dyslipidemia (76.9%). Among those with white coat hypertension, increased abdominal circumference (83.3%) and metabolic syndrome (66.7%) were associated. Among those with sustained hypertension, in addition to metabolic syndrome (65.2%), increased neck circumference (21.7%) was associated, as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels, which were statistically high. Furthermore, metabolic syndrome demonstrated an association with both OBP (Odds Ratio - OR=5.84) and HBPM (OR=3.60). Conclusion: The cardiometabolic profile is unfavorable and metabolic syndrome was the factor that was independently associated with lack of office and home blood pressure control.

Age at menarche (AAM) is an important reproductive development milestone, correlated with women’s reproductive and health trajectories making it critically important to understand its determinants. In addition to environmental factors, such as diet, physical and social stress, genetics have been shown to contribute to 50-80% of the variation in AAM. To improve our understanding of reproductive trajectories in Indigenous, not industrialized, populations we evaluated heritability of AAM among a group of mothers and daughters in a rural Mayan population. Contrary to other studies’ reports, we found heritability of AAM to be low (0.107), and not statistically significant (p= 0.759). In contrast, heritability of height in this population was 0.7582 (p= 0.047), which is consistent with other height heritability reports. We hypothesized that our low AAM heritability findings could be explained by inaccuracies in self-reported AAM. We tested this hypothesis using AAM self-reports collected from the daughters around the time they experienced menarche and then, 6 years later. Consistent with our hypothesis, daughters self-reported AAM differed by an average of half a year between the time they experience menarche and 6 years later (avg = +0.513 years on the second report). Furthermore, a third of daughters reported an AAM that differed from the original by a year or more. No second measurement from the mothers existed to replicate this analysis. Future research should aim to better understand how contextual understandings of age and recall bias may influence the accuracy of self-reported AAM and identify better research methods to study reproductive development.

The need for population-based and culturally appropriate health measures has been well-documented, including in the Arctic. Approaches that allow for self-determined health measures, such as this concept mapping for Unangax̂ healthy living in St. Paul, Alaska, provide the opportunity to properly articulate and acknowledge Indigenous histories and experiences that are intrinsic to health outcomes and the local context. By creating an Unangax̂ healthy living conceptual framework in partnership with the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island, this project privileges Indigenous voices in the pursuit of improving Indigenous health and reducing Indigenous health disparities.

This is a qualitative research using a bioanthropological approach, involving mother-baby dyads of high and low socioeconomic status (SES) from the city of Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon, with the objective of understanding the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic in the self-care of women during pregnancy and puerperium, the impacts on parental care and which strategies were most commonly used by women during this special period. Different socioeconomic strata were analyzed to identify the self-care conditions considered necessary by women during pregnancy, as well as care for the baby during the puerperal period in the midst of a pandemic. A protocol was developed considering the international epidemiological recommendations, using face-to-face interviews, when possible, and online meetings, with mothers of babies in the first two months of life. Data collection took place between July 2021 and March 2022. Twenty-one women participated in the research. In general, mothers encountered difficulties in social interaction with family, assistance from family members, self-care, reduced income, and lack of prenatal consultations during the pandemic, but they found some ways to alleviate the difficulties by using social networks such as E-mail, WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube for consultations, information, and also to generate income. The study provided an overview of how the pandemic affected mothers and babies from different SES in a major Amazon city and how they reacted. The findings may contribute to the planning of public policies aimed at maternal and child care during periods of prolonged crises, such as epidemics, pandemics and environmental disasters.

Sickness is a universal human experience, yet perceptions of illness, attendant symptoms, and cultural norms surrounding sickness likely vary across societies. Despite this, relatively few studies have quantified these variations. In this exploratory study, we surveyed 91 adult Hadzabe (mean age = 39 years, 46% female) from six camps about sickness, including questions about sensations defining sickness and whether sick individuals are exempt from common responsibilities. We modified the SicknessQ, a validated measure of sickness behavior, to assess whether common sickness sensations (e.g., fatigue) were acknowledged. Most participants (84.6%-94.5%) agreed that it is acceptable to ask for help or refrain from household tasks (e.g., hunting, collecting water) when unwell. There was minimal gender discrepancy across SicknessQ items, except for nausea, with more women (78.6%) than men (57.1%) endorsing this sensation as indicative of sickness. In general, Hadzabe understandings of sickness align with biomedical understandings, though most Hadzabe participants (75%) indicated that they preferred not to be alone when sick. The permissive attitudes toward work during sickness contrast with high presenteeism (i.e., working while sick) rates in many Global North societies. These differences may be attributable to kith and kin in Hadzabe camps that are willing to take care of a sick person’s tasks on their behalf. As the Hadzabe increasingly integrate into a market economy, their perceptions and attitudes toward illness may shift toward greater presenteeism. Further studies will be necessary to assess the impact of market integration on Hadzabe concepts of sickness.

Introduction: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is an underdiagnosed medical condition with an increasing prevalence due to rising obesity rates and improved diagnostic tools, and is recognized as an independent risk factor for cardiac and metabolic morbidities. Objective: To screen for OSA risk and cardiometabolic profile in primary health care. Method: Population-based, multicenter (LapARC - Rio de Janeiro study arm), cross-sectional study, Our center is located in the municipality of Santarém, Pará, Brazil. Young adults (20 to 50 years old) were assessed in relation to their cardiovascular risk profile, sociodemographic characteristics, bioimpedance and anthropometry. OSA was screened using the Stop-Bang Questionnaire (QSB) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), with QSB scores ≥ 3 and ESS scores ≥ 10 identifying high-risk patients (HR). Office blood pressure was measured and Home Blood Pressure Monitoring was carried out. Results: The study assessed 267 individuals, in which 87 (32.6%) were identified as having high risk for OSA by the QSB questionnaire, 98 (36.7%) by the ESE and 43 (16.1%) by both scales, with OSA being more prevalent among men (32.8%), in older, obese, with increased neck circumference, sedentary, dyslipidemic, diabetic and hypertensive individuals. Conclusion: the population showed classic and modifiable cardiovascular risk characteristics, which probably impacted the high prevalence of high risk for OSA and this suggests that, although young, this population is not as healthy as is doubtfully idealized.

Births have occurred at home with family and trusted community members for the majority of human history. Although the evolutionary mechanisms underlying childbirth complications remain debated, they occur in a small number of births and can negatively affect maternal-newborn outcomes. When homebirthing parents in the United States experience complications, they may opt to transfer from the home to a hospital for biomedical care. There were ~30,000 homebirths per year, and an estimated 3,000-12,000 home-to-hospital transfers per year (pre-COVID), with a significant increase in homebirths during the pandemic. However, the decentralized US healthcare system, and state and hospital-level variation in midwifery integration (i.e., the degree to which midwifery care is incorporated into state-level legislation and hospital policy), produce barriers to integration as well as varying transfer rates. Our hypothesis was that transfer rates will correlate with integration levels. We used the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) Stats 4.0, a secondary anonymized dataset containing U.S. home and birth center data from 2012-2018 (n= 47,883 births). To analyze integration, we used two predictor variables: 1) integration score, a summary of homebirth and midwife-related laws and regulations and 2) barrier state, (e.g., if a US state provided licensure for homebirth midwives). We ran logistic regression models to determine if either predictor was associated with home-to-hospital transfer. Preliminary results show that integration score and state barrier status were significantly and negatively associated with newborn transfer rates, but were not significant predictors of intrapartum or postpartum transfer.

Recently, intimate partner violence has surpassed obstetric and postpartum complications to be the leading cause of death among pregnant mothers in the United States. The causes remain a matter of speculation. Current consensus posits that gun violence and overall high rates of intimate partner violence (1 in 3 women) in the US are responsible for the shift in maternal femicide as the leading cause of maternal mortality. While gun violence has been identified as occurring in 68% of lethal maternal femicides, we suggest rather that male violence against female intimate partners relies on other causal factors which lead to biopolicing of women's bodies in intimate partner relationships in the United States.. By exploring a cross cultural comparison of hunter gatherer communities, countries with differing intimate partner crime protocols, and other countries with similar gun ownership rates against intimate partner crime and social statistics in the United States in order to identify possible biosocial causation. As the United States surpasses the rest of the world in both intimate partner crime as well as maternal femicide, identifying and preventing intimate partner violence is key to increasing maternal health in the United States.

The prevalence of gender and sexual diverse (GSD) identities, behaviors and attractions reflects changing societal norms concerning sexuality and as such is subjected to dynamic intergenerational changes. In this study, we aimed at investigating the prevalence of GSD identities, behaviors, and attractions in the representative sample of Polish adults from four generations. We expected to observe an intergenerational increase in the prevalence of GSD identities, behaviors and attractions, with the highest rates among the youngest respondents.

This study utilized stratified sampling. Demographic and questionnaire data was collected through an online research platform. Statistical analyses were performed using R studio.

9366 Polish adults (51.6% assigned female at birth, AFAB) aged 44.5 years participated in the study. The final sample included 20% Baby Boomers, 30% Gen X, 35% Millennials and 15% Gen Z respondents. Nearly one in ten participants revealed GSD sexual or gender identity.

We observed a progressive decline in the proportion of self-identified cisgender heterosexual participants across all four generations with the highest percentage among Boomers and lowest among Gen Z participants. Nearly one in six Gen Z respondents identified as LGBTQA+ person as compared to only 3% of Boomers. Similar patterns were observed in the case of sexual and romantic attractions and behaviors. Additionally, exclusive heterosexual attractions and behaviors were less prevalent among AFAB participants within each distinguished generation.

Our results are consistent with data from other large representative studies and indicate significant societal changes related to genders and sexualities particularly evident among younger generations.

A significant portion of adults with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, also known as long COVID, are known to exhibit long-term psychiatric symptoms, including depression, suicidality, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Childhood adversity is a well-documented risk factor for adult mental illness, and growing research suggests that early stress exposure may increase later-life risk for elevated systemic inflammation, a mechanism hypothesized to underlie the psychiatric sequelae of long COVID. Little is known, however, about the role of childhood adversity in shaping long COVID symptoms. This study investigated the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and long-term psychiatric symptoms among adults with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. This observational study took place in Johannesburg, South Africa between August 2022-July 2023 and stemmed from a larger project focused on characterising long COVID. A total of 305 adults were categorised into one of four case groups based on their initial COVID-19 symptoms: asymptomatic, symptomatic, hospitalised, and a vaccinated control group. The average number of ACEs reported was five out of 20. In fully adjusted models, ACEs were associated with greater symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and somatisation, but not suicidality and symptoms of bipolar disorder. These results suggest that childhood adversity may predispose individuals to increased psychiatric morbidity after SARS-CoV-2 infection and possibly during long COVID. Further research is necessary to examine the extent to which childhood adversity durably shapes adult immune activity and precipitates the psychiatric sequelae of long COVID, in order to identify possible mechanisms facilitating the long-term psychiatric effects of childhood adversity.

The present study aims to explore the associations of adult limb proportions, representing the end point of the linear growth that occurs in childhood, with childhood socioeconomic background. Life history theory frames energy according to the laws of thermodynamics as a finite resource allocated between basic survival costs (metabolic functions, physical activity, and immunity) and productive costs (growth/maintenance, or reproduction). Energetic deficits through lack of access to resources and/or increased exposure to stressors are associated with the disadvantaged biocultural environments often afforded to individuals with lower socioeconomic status. These deficits may impact growth outcomes. We use anthropometric and demographic data collected from 193 adult (aged 20–50 years; m=99, f=94) individuals whose computed tomography scans are housed in the New Mexico Decedent Image Database to explore how various limb proportions differ between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) levels. Relationships are tested using ANCOVA and BCa bootstrap intervals. Individuals from upper-class backgrounds have larger dimensions for a given trunk length across all measurements. The most significant between-SES differences are found in the ulna (p=0.02) and tibia (p=0.03). While individuals who face resource deficits in early childhood may undergo catch-up growth during adolescence, our study suggests the material disadvantage offered by low SES in New Mexico prevents this catch-up growth from equalizing body proportions. Our study demonstrates the importance of the ulna and tibia as biomarkers of childhood biocultural environments.

Technological advances in human evolutionary biology research have contributed greatly to progress in understanding human variation and implications for health and basic research. The measurement and assessment of hormones, genes, and other biomarkers in remote field settings using minimally invasive collection methods has led to the emergence and growth of new fields such as reproductive and immune ecology as well as evolutionary genetics. These advances are likely to accelerate as the result of miniaturization of equipment and vital analytical devices, wearable technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud data storage, and enhanced abilities to analyze large, small, and incomplete data sets. While these technologies and methods should be welcomed and embraced, these advances also merit vigilance and continued awareness of the following scientific best practices: 1) Valid interpretation of results; 2) constant interrogation of physiological significance of results; 3) the maintenance, awareness, and development of theoretical context; and 4) the maintenance of ethical data collection. As research using challenging biomarkers at remote field sites and more sophisticated analysis becomes easier, more accessible, and more efficient, it is important to maintain and promote these scientific best practices.

A Nature (2023) survey of more than 1,600 researchers across the natural, social, and physical sciences showed that many expect artificial intelligence (AI) will soon be central to research practices. AI, including shallow machine learning and deep learning, has already begun transforming research practices, offering capabilities for every step in the scientific process including insight generation, research conceptualization, data collection, data analysis, and writing. In the field of human biology specifically, AI can be used to accelerate and expand qualitative data analysis, detect patterns in human biological variation, increase the number of input variables in biological and biocultural models, and increase multi-modal data collection. However, there is still much debate as to which AI applications are acceptable and which are problematic and/or unethical. AI tools often perpetrate biases, “hallucinate” or make up information, and could lead to a lack of replication, faked studies, and plagiarism. Models often require large amounts of data, labelling, understanding, and supervision, with technologies consuming massive amounts of power and water. Further, deep learning algorithms are uninterpretable black-boxes, that are only as good as the inputs they are trained on, with massive amounts of infrastructure needed to retrain models due to bias and drift. A proactive and collaborative approach is needed to integrate AI into research methods and policies effectively while addressing practical and ethical considerations, issues of access, and other limitations. Here, our goal is to outline an approach that systematically reviews its uses at each step of the scientific process.

Biological anthropologists have increasingly recognized the strengths of collaboration, with research in human biology becoming a multidisciplinary endeavor shaped by these partnerships. Integrating local and Indigenous knowledge has revealed new insights into the complex ways biology is influenced by cultural, historical, and environmental contexts; a framework captured by Margaret Lock’s concept of “local biologies” (1993). As Human Biology moves into the next 50 years, ethical praxis, inclusivity, and the development of a Bioethos must guide its future. A Bioethos, as conceptualized by Pamela Geller (2019, 2021), calls attention to how research is conceptualized, carried out, and communicated within the multiple contexts bioarchaeological research exists within. The application of a Bioethos to Human Biology brings together these theoretical lenses to envision a recentering of the research priorities, methodologies, and the production of knowledge. Grounded in collaboration with local, marginalized, and Indigenous communities - populations that are often the subjects of major breakthroughs in our discipline – a Bioethos emphasizes the need for embedding collaborative frameworks in every aspect of the research lifecycle: from design and training to outreach, data generation, analysis, visualization, and storage. Inherent in this approach is the co-creation of knowledge, which emphasizes reciprocity, social justice, and long-term relationships between researchers and communities. Such an approach ensures that scientific findings are culturally responsive, ethically grounded, and beneficial to all participants of science. Ultimately, centering a Bioethos in the research lifecycle offers the opportunity to challenge entrenched power dynamics and reshape research priorities, creating a more equitable future for the field.

La brecha entre el Sur y el Norte Global en la producción, circulación, comunicación y acceso al conocimiento científico ha sido ampliamente documentada. Dichas desigualdades se manifiestan en el volumen, alcance, diversidad e impacto de iniciativas y resultados de investigación, la inversión en la generación de sistemas de investigación, la oferta de programas académicos y de oportunidades laborales, la migración de profesionales altamente capacitados, las barreras de lenguaje y el anglocentrismo de la ciencia contemporánea, entre otros. Las causas de dichas disparidades son múltiples y complejas, pero en el caso de Latinoamérica, el impacto que los altibajos políticos, las ideologías y democracias cambiantes, y la resultante inestabilidad económica de años recientes han tenido en la política científica de la mayoría de los países de la región, ha planteado desafíos importantes para las instituciones y comunidades científicas y educativas. En este espacio, proponemos reflexionar sobre los retos que implica el construir y mantener las capacidades de docencia e investigación para una investigación en Biología Humana de largo aliento en condiciones de incertidumbre e inestabilidad, e identificar oportunidades e imaginar estrategias adaptativas, y colaborativas que posibiliten una investigación pertinente, relevante y transformadora que permita vislumbrar un futuro promisorio para la Biología Humana pensada desde, con y para el Sur.

Biological anthropology has increasingly recognized the importance of energy trade-offs to patterns of energy allocation, which impacts functions like reproduction, growth, and immunity. While various methods are available to study energetics, an important gap remains: empirical quantification of brain energy use, particularly during development. Although other fields have studied the brain’s energy use in adults, peak brain energy requirements, in absolute and relative terms, occurs during childhood when the brain accounts for a lifetime peak of 66% of the body’s resting energy expenditure. The trade-offs required to sustain these high energy costs help explain features of human life history, like our unusually slow growth rate. Exploring variation in these dynamics across individuals or populations is hampered by challenges of brain metabolism measurement, which generally requires clinical imaging facilities. Here we present a novel approach employing electroencephalography (EEG) as a proxy for brain energy use. The energy devoted to the brain is largely used in neuronal functions related to synapse firing. EEG is a direct measure of this activity, and thus holds promise as a cheap, portable means of measuring brain energy use in field settings. We discuss our preliminary work that replicates the pattern of findings generated using PET and MRI. By integrating the brain into the study of human energetics, these methods represent the crucial next step in our field and hold promise to advance our understanding of how brain energy use varies, the trade-offs that result, and impacts of these dynamics on patterns of growth and life history

Understanding the role of chemical exposure within human variation is increasingly important as synthetic chemicals become a major presence in nearly all environments, are environmentally- and biologically persistent, disproportionately impact vulnerable populations, and are of growing concern as augmenting natural disasters increase the gravity of exposure to toxins. Silicone wristbands are a non-invasive method for capturing passive individual exposure to non-polar and semi-polar organic chemicals including but not limited to volatile organic compounds, hydrophilic contaminants containing ketone, carboxyl, and hydroxyl groups, pesticides, flame retardants, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), among others. Thus, silicone wristbands can capture exposures to multiple chemicals via various pathways (touch, drift, air (respiratory), and water)– data that can be used to further our understanding of the direct and indirect contributions of exogenous chemicals on human biological outcomes such as endocrine disruption, growth and development, and risk for disease. In this talk, I provide an overview of the novel silicone wristband method including its validation, field and laboratory protocols, and measuring capabilities. I briefly describe a case study from research among girls in rural Costa Rica to highlight the method’s practicality in the field and advantages including the mitigation of cultural and bureaucratic challenges associated with traditional invasive biological measures and active sampling methods. To conclude, I summarize the method’s utilization in relative research and discuss its role within new conceptual frameworks and the future of human biological investigations.

Videogames are played by 42% of the global population. They are an interactive media, and they involve participants in the constant construction of knowledge. Its importance for human biology has been increasing and expanding, ranging from scientific dissemination to knowledge production. “Commercial” games, originally intended solely for entertainment, can be used by scientists in teaching and scientific dissemination. Dawn of Man is a good example. There is an increasing number of games created by scientists with the aim of promoting scientific dissemination and science education. Adaptopia is a great example. I worked as a consulting scientist in this game. Players are also helping scientists solve scientific problems while participating in online games developed for this purpose. Videogames can become a tool for citizen science – when there is a contribution to science through the participation of members of society. Foldit is the main example of a videogame being used for citizen science. This year, one of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was Demis Hassabis, for his achievements in using AI to predict and design the structure of proteins. He started his research on AI when he was a game designer for the game Black & White. Just as in real life, where learning becomes increasingly complex and necessary for survival, the basic structure of videogames inherently directs the player toward this learning progression. The examples presented here demonstrate that videogames can be a powerful tool, both for scientific dissemination and to knowledge production.

Human biology has long recognized the necessity of understanding health as situated within a variety of complex systems—biological, psychological, social, and environmental—and as a product of the interaction of these systems across the lifespan and generations. Longitudinal cohort studies have permitted the measurement of these social and environmental systems and have increasingly incorporated field-friendly biological measures. However, cohort research faces growing challenges, including increasing data collection costs, dropping response rates, and shrinking funding, suggesting that alternatives are needed. We propose the use of existing demographic, medical, and socioenvironmental data to create synthetic birth cohorts as an exciting path forward for understanding the key exposures shaping health and well-being across the lifespan. We use pilot data from >6000 births from two counties in North Carolina in 2019 to test whether electronic medical records (EMRs) can be used to create representative cohorts and linked to other administrative data to measure maternal and child health outcomes across the first 1000 days of life. Our results suggest that EMRs from large health care systems can provide representative data, be linked to a variety of measures like area deprivation, environmental pollution and access to social services, and document significant associations between social and environmental factors and poor health outcomes, such as maternal hypertension and preterm birth. Partnered with more intensive, “higher touch” survey and qualitative research, this sampling approach has the potential to broaden study horizons, permitting comprehensive examination of multiple determinants of health from pre-conception onwards and identify new avenues of intervention.

Evidence for an association between maternal depression and infant body size is mixed. We test the association between maternal depressive symptoms (MDS) and infant weight-for-age z-scores (iWAZ). Data come from 371 African American mother-infant pairs participating in the Mothers & Others Study, a home-based intervention to prevent early development of obesity. Data were collected at 28-weeks gestation and 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 months postpartum. At each visit, infant weight was measured and MDS, breastfeeding history, infant feeding styles, and infant temperament were collected using validated instruments. Longitudinal mixed effects models tested the association between MDS and iWAZ. Path analyses tested for mediation by breastfeeding duration, responsive feeding, and infant fussiness. MDS were included in final models as a 4-level categorical variable to test whether the timing and/or duration of MDS were differently associated with iWAZ. Prevalence of MDS ranged from 30.4% prenatally to 13.9% at 15 months. MDS were inversely associated with iWAZ in adjusted models. No evidence for mediation through breastfeeding or responsive feeding was found. MDS had a significant indirect effect through perception of infant fussiness (β=0.02, CI: 0.01, 0.04). Infants of mothers with both pre- and postnatal symptoms had significantly smaller iWAZ from 0-15 months (β=-0.41, p=0.03) than infants of mothers without depressive symptoms. Our analysis suggests that MDS are associated with lower iWAZ. Maternal perception of infant temperament may be an underlying pathway, but more research is needed to understand the effects of maternal depression on body size.

Microbial exposures during infancy shape the development of the microbiome, the collection of microbes living in and on the body, which in turn directs immune system training. Newborns acquire a substantial quantity of microbes during birth and throughout infancy via exposure to microbes in the physical and social environment. Alterations to early life microbial environments may give rise to mismatches, where environmental, cultural, and behavioral changes that outpace the body’s adaptive responses can lead to adverse health outcomes, particularly those related to microbiome development and immune system regulation. This study explored the development of the skin microbiome among infants born in Chicago, USA. We collected skin swab microbiome samples from 22 mother-infant dyads during the first 48 hours of life and again at six weeks postpartum. Mothers provided information about birth and household environments, as well hygiene behaviors that may impact infants’ microbial exposures. Analysis of 16S rRNA bacterial gene sequencing data revealed correlations between infant skin bacterial abundances shortly after birth and factors such as antibiotic exposure and receiving a bath in the hospital. The composition of the infant microbiome at six weeks of age was associated with interactions with caregivers and infant feeding practices. We also found shifts in maternal skin microbiomes that may reflect increased hygiene practices in the hospital. Our data suggest that factors related to the birth and household environment can impact the development of infant skin microbiomes and point to practices that may produce mismatches for the infant microbiome and immune system.

Despite government efforts to improve breastfeeding and complementary feeding, northern Brazil posts the poorest adherence to infant feeding guidelines and highest rate of infant growth faltering. To better understand complementary feeding practices in the region, we collected data on breastfeeding and dietary intake (24-hr dietary recall) from a longitudinal cohort of n=168 infants at 1-month, 3-months, 9-months, and 15-months living in high- and low-socio-economic-status households (HSES, LSES) in Belém. We complemented these data with interviews with n=30 mothers regarding infant feeding decisions. We used the FAO definitions for exclusive/mixed breastfeeding and followed their protocol for calculating minimum dietary diversity (MDD). Breastfeeding patterns did not differ between HSES and LSES infants at 1, 3 and 9-months. However, by 15-months, LSES infants were more likely to be breastfed (X2=4.04; p=0.04). At 3-months, both HSES and LSES infants received other foods, mainly cereals and cow’s milk, and this was more frequent among LSES infants. At 9-months we documented cereals/roots/tubers, dairy, flesh foods, and Vit-A rich fruits/vegetables in infants’ diets and found no differences in MDD between the HSES and LSES groups (Mann-Whitney=2008; p=0.55). By 15-months infants were consuming foods from the cereals/roots/tubers, dairy, flesh foods, Vit-A rich fruits/vegetables, and legumes/nuts/seeds categories, and MDD was higher among HSES infants (Mann-Whitney=2180; p=0.04). We also found that LSES infants were more exposed to sugar and other ultra-processed foods. A review of the food items consumed, and thematic analysis of the interview transcripts indicate that an understanding of the biocultural context is needed to improve infant outcomes.

Climate change is a growing threat to population health, with dangerous combinations of heat and humidity increasing in frequency, particularly in South Asia. Evidence suggests that high temperatures and heat stress influence breastfeeding behavior and may lead to suboptimal infant and young child nutrition. Few studies have quantified the relationship between ambient heat and breastfeeding. Here we evaluate associations between wet-bulb temperature and daily breastfeeding patterns in a rural community in Bangladesh. We used 24 months of daily time-diary data from 68 maternal-child dyads and regional wet-bulb temperatures to test the hypothesis that increased heat and humidity negatively influence breastfeeding outcomes among Shodagor fisher-traders. We found that higher wet-bulb temperatures predicted reduced daily breastfeeding time allocation, particularly among fishers, and drove shifts toward increased nighttime and decreased mid/late morning feeding. Maternal occupation and the interaction of child age with heat strongly influenced diurnal breastfeeding patterns. These results highlight an important role of maternal work on infants’ vulnerability to environmental stress. Dyads’ ability to behaviorally compensate for extreme heat may be constrained by extended heatwaves, humidity, and economic circumstances, suggesting that climate change will likely exacerbate heat-related risks to global child health going forward.

Urinary cell-free mitochondrial DNA (cf-mtDNA) – the concentration of extracellular mtDNA excreted in urine – is an emerging biomarker of stress and metabolic adaptation. Among humans, cf-mtDNA is elevated by both physical and psychosocial stressors and is linked to increased metabolism, biological aging, and greater illness symptom severity. This research has been restricted to adults in industrialized settings. Here, we provide the first early life and low- and middle-income country (LMIC) data for cf-mtDNA. Untimed urine samples, anthropometric measures, and other data were collected from 81 Indigenous Shuar children (aged 4-12 years) in Amazonian Ecuador. Urine samples were processed and cf-mtDNA quantified using qPCR, corrected for creatinine. Mixed effects regression models indicate significant independent effects of sex, BMI-for-age (BAZ), and rural/peri-urban group on cf-mtDNA. Specifically, cf-mtDNA concentration was greater among females (p < 0.001), was negatively related to BAZ (p = 0.008), and was elevated 51% among children living in a rural setting (p = 0.039). Analysis of pathogen exposure variables among the Shuar identified a possible protective effect of clean drinking water, such that households with piped (vs. fetched) water had 68% lower cf-mtDNA (p = 0.022). As a predictor, Shuar children with higher cf-mtDNA exhibited lower height-for-age z-score measures of linear growth (p = 0.041). These preliminary findings demonstrate that cf-mtDNA is broadly linked to children’s physical stress, energetics, and growth in an LMIC context. As such, cf-mtDNA provides human biologists with a novel and potentially powerful tool for investigating pathways of embodiment, developmental plasticity, and life history trade-offs.

The Qom/Toba of northern Argentina, like many Indigenous Peoples undergoing drastic lifestyle changes, are facing increasing challenges with substance use, particularly glue inhalation among children. To date, no biosocial research has focused on childhood substance use in this community. This study, initiated at the community's request, aimed to explore social and cultural factors contributing to substance use among Qom children. The results of this study will inform culturally sensitive interventions to prevent substance use among Indigenous youth.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 29 adults and 39 children (ages 6-12), recruited through snowball sampling, and collected additional qualitative data through participant observation. The data were coded and analyzed thematically.

Protective factors at the individual level included having friends who abstain, attending school, involvement in community organizations, spiritual beliefs, and supportive adults. Systemic risk factors included limited education about substance use, lack of resources, unemployment, social marginalization, and barriers within healthcare and government systems related to representation, language, and culture. Further research and community-based interventions that center Qom values and leadership are essential to addressing childhood substance use and promoting children's health in this population.

The Tengger Tribe is a traditional population in Indonesia that has distinctive local wisdom and formed a Java Hinduism belief system. The tribe lives around the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park Area (1400-1900 masl) as an agricultural society. Life history explains that selective pressures, such as biocultural and ecological conditions, could influence energy allocation between productive (growth and reproduction), self-maintenance, and activity, resulting in various biological traits, such as somatotype. The research aims to determine the somatotype and physical activity levels (PAL) of the Tengger Tribe aged 12-20 years. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 351 subjects (185 girls and 166 boys). The somatotype was assessed using the Heath-Carter method. Physical activity was collected through 24-hour recall and calculated for PAL. The results showed that girls’ somatotype categories shifted from balanced endomorph to mesomorphic endomorph, while boys changed from balanced endomorph to central, balanced ectomorph, and back to central. The changes in somatotype components are likely related to PAL categories (girls: sedentary to heavy; boys: sedentary to moderate). Tengger’s somatotypes, characterized by endomorphic (fat) and mesomorphic (skeletal muscle) in both sexes, suggest a remarkable adaptive strategy for energy efficiency to temperature regulation, high physical activity in agricultural practices, and future reproductive demands. Our results align with the 'Mobility and Agility' hypothesis, underlining a muscular physique as an advantageous evolutionary strategy for navigation efficiency in challenging geographical conditions. These findings have significant implications for understanding human evolution and the influence of biocultural and ecological factors on biological traits.

Little is known about "folk conceptions" of sleep function and sleep problems in non-WEIRD settings. Here, we analyze adolescent perceptions of sleep among 145 participants (x̄=13.7 ± 1.21) belonging to three distinct ecological backgrounds: 1) Totonac agriculturalists, 2) Maya agriculturalists, and 3) urbanites from Mexico City. We predict that the rural adolescents who are not influenced by the same cultural factors as WEIRD participants (e.g., gendered physical activity, technological gadgets with screens, and the materiality of sleep) will have fewer sleep complaints. From February to November 2019, we collected 1405 sleep observations employing actigraphy, interviews, and ethnographic observations. We used a thematic analysis to investigate the participants' sleep quality and culturally normative ideas about sleep. Adolescents from Mexico City expressed the shortest sleep durations and the highest sleep efficiency (SE, defined as the ratio of total sleep time to time in bed) (Mdn=87.6, IQR=7.7); Maya teenagers had a similar duration but significantly lower SE (Mdn=76.5, IQR=13.8). However, regarding self-rated daytime drowsiness, individuals from Mexico City scored the highest and those from Puebla the lowest. Urban teenagers quantified their sleeping times to assess whether they had a good night’s sleep, whereas rural teenagers relied on their subjective bodily experience of restedness. Results suggest that sociocultural cues can substantially impact objective and subjective sleep outcomes.

While reproduction and family formation are deeply intertwined with biological processes, a variety of social factors affect at least three aspects of this process: desire, intent, and success. Disparities in these aspects are found between lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) and non-LGBTQ+ individuals, with LGBTQ+ individuals being less likely to intend to and succeed in family formation. These disparities are affected by personal beliefs, structural barriers, and individual experiences, as LGBTQ+ individuals are less able to access necessary resources for family formation and may therefore be discouraged from doing so. Furthermore, early-life experiences, including negative parental relationships, can affect personal beliefs and biological abilities of childbearing through pathways of stress. To explore the association between early parental relationships and adult experiences of family formation (having children, or if not, reasons for not doing so) in LGBTQ+ individuals, data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) in Wave I (1994-1995) and Wave IV (2008-2009, adulthood) are used. Relationships between adolescent parental relationships, adult perceived stress, and family formation intent and success were assessed in 588 LGBTQ+ participants in comparison to their heterosexual peers. Our results suggest that LGBTQ+ individuals experience more negative parental relationships in adolescence, have lower intent and success in family formation, and have higher levels of stress compared to non-LGBTQ+ individuals. These results will shed light on the multitude of processes related to family formation and open up avenues of inquiry for potential intergenerational effects of stress in this population.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), in particular polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS), are known to be lipophilic and are associated with many adverse health effects in humans, such as alterations to sexual maturation and growth and development. We utilized longitudinal measurements of POP levels, height, weight, and sexual maturation from two studies, the Mohawk Adolescent Well-Being Study (1995-2000) and the Young Adult Well-Being study (2000-2005) which included participants from adolescence to adulthood, to quantify individual-level change in a community with documented exposure to POPs. We hypothesized there would be a significant association between changes in POPs levels, and changes in growth and development. The POPs included in this analysis include dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p’-DDE), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and PCBs (persistent, non-persistent, and airborne). The average difference in age between the first and second set of measurements was 4.52 years (+ 1.21). An increase in summary PCB50 levels was associated with less height attainment (p=0.016) while an increase in p,p’-DDE levels was correlated with less weight attainment (p<0.001) between samples. Congener specific analyses found age was significantly and positively correlated with increased levels of PCB123. Higher levels of PCB74 and PCB187 were correlated with less height attainment (p=0.012; p<0.001 respectively). Increased levels of PCB74 and PCB187 were associated with a greater likelihood of reaching Tanner Stage II (p=0.003). In contrast, PCB110 was correlated with a decreased likelihood of reaching Tanner Stage II (p=0.027). Additional multivariate predictive modeling will further analyze and characterize relationships between changes in POP levels with height, weight, and sexual maturation.

Background: Adolescence is a critical transition in which girls face energetic trade-offs between growth and reproductive development. These trade-offs can affect the onset and pace of this transition in girls. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) is a proposed modulator of metabolic energetic trade-offs, yet, few studies have examined its role during girls’ reproductive maturation. Hypothesis: The HPAA modulates metabolic energy allocation between growth and reproductive maturation. We predict that timing of menarche should be linked to energy storage levels and progress of somatic growth. Methods: We evaluated biomarkers of HPAA activity (cortisol), energy uptake (c-peptide), energy storage (adiponectin) and ovarian function (estrogen and progesterone metabolites quantified in first morning urine), and measures of height growth (proportion of final height) collected from 29 pre- and post-menarche Mayan adolescent girls from Guatemala. Results: Adiponectin’s relationship with menarche timing was modulated by cortisol; for each unit of cortisol by adiponectin interaction, girls were 8.56-months further from menarche. Additionally, for each 1% increase in proportion of their final height, girls were 1.34-months closer to menarche. Discussion: Consistent with our hypothesis, HPAA activity was associated with energy storage levels and time until menarche, which was linked to the pace of somatic growth. Future studies should include the frequent collection of anthropometric data and biomarkers throughout the transition from childhood to adolescence to explore within-individual changes in HPAA activity, energy levels and somatic development and the pace of reproductive and draw among-individual comparisons to further clarify the HPAA’s role in modulating energy allocation between growth and reproduction.

Many studies aim to understand the environmental drivers of life history strategy but rely on recall data for the timing of pubertal development. Epigenetic clocks, although designed to measure the pace of aging, are hypothesized to reflect the pace of development when measured in younger individuals and could provide a physiological measure of life history pacing. Here, we use data from a birth cohort study (the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey) to test whether epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) measured in young adults (N > 1500) is associated with (a) biological life history traits, including age at maturation, and (b) behavioral characteristics of life history, such as age at first sex. We measure EAA with a panel of 9 epigenetic clocks (6 trained on adult populations, 3 on pediatric populations) and use a combination of survival analyses and logistic regression. The pediatric clocks were not associated with any outcome, suggesting that they do not serve as biomarkers of pubertal timing when measured in young adults. None of the adult clocks were associated with age at menarche in females or pubertal development in males. However, in adult clocks EAA consistently predicted earlier ages at first conception in females and earlier ages at first sex in both females and males. When analyses were repeated and limited to females nulliparous at baseline, these relationships were no longer present. These findings suggest that EAA indexes behavioral aspects of life history strategy, and that this partly reflects the age accelerating effects of reproduction in females.

Dr. Roy Shephard (1929–2023) had an impactful career in human biology and exercise science spanning more than 50 years. Roy was a very prolific scientist, educator, and mentor, and is often referred to as the grandfather of exercise science in Canada. He had a strong interest in human biological variability, and he was uniquely able to bridge the fields of exercise science, human biology and public health. As an exercise scientist, he had expertise in aviation and altitude physiology, cardiac and pulmonary physiology, and environmental medicine. He leveraged this expertise to contribute to the development of landmark physical activity guidelines for Canada. Beginning in the early 1960’s, Dr. Shephard brought his expertise in exercise science to bear on studying circumpolar health and the acculturation of indigenous peoples. Dr. Shephard is well known for his work on the Human Adaptability Project (HAP), one of the topic areas of the International Biological Programme (IBP;1964-1974). His work among the Inuit of Igloolik in the Northwest Territories of Canada demonstrated the long-term health effects of acculturation. In addition to a marked deterioration of fitness levels over time, increases in adiposity in the population were also observed. However, adults who had maintained a traditional lifestyle had higher levels of aerobic and muscular fitness than those who had adopted a more “urban” lifestyle. Having published more than 2000 peer-reviewed papers and more than 100 books during his prolific career, Dr. Shephard has left a strong legacy of multi-disciplinary research within the field of human biology.

Much of what we know about human adaptability to arctic climates has been shaped by the pioneering work of Dr. Roy J. Shephard. At the University of Toronto, Dr. Shephard was the prime architect of the early studies of Arctic/Circumpolar Peoples carried out as part of the Human Adaptability Project (HAP) of the International Biological Programme (IBP). His research among the Igloolik Inuit of the Northwest Territories of Canada continued from the 1960s through the early 1990s, documenting the profound consequences of acculturation and lifestyle change on aerobic fitness, body composition, and cardiometabolic health. In this paper, I review the research of Shephard and colleagues from Igloolik and consider how this foundational work continues to shape ongoing studies of physiology and health among circumpolar populations. Additionally, I draw on our work among Indigenous Siberian populations to highlight the important legacy of Roy Shephard to the field of human population biology.

The positive effects of physical activity (PA) on sleep are widely promoted by public health organizations and supported by abundant empirical evidence. Nonetheless, there remains a dearth of studies investigating the association between daytime PA and nighttime sleep among nonurban and nonindustrial populations that habitually engage in PA as part of their subsistence strategy. Here, we examined the bidirectional relationship between PA and sleep. We also looked at age, gender, and occupation-level differences in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), low, and sedentary activity durations in a rural agropastoral community in South Africa. We collected activity and sleep data from 113 individuals using MotionWatch actigraphy wristwatches across three field seasons (7,111 individual nights). We found that herders spent less time sedentary and had higher activity levels than non-herders. Among non-herders, women had longer MVPA and shorter sedentary activity than men. In general, low to moderate PA decreased total sleep time (TST) and improved sleep quality (increased sleep efficiency (SE), decreased fragmentation, and decreased wake after sleep onset). MVPA and low activity were negatively influenced by TST and positively influenced by SE from the previous night. In summary, low to moderate PA were consistent predictors for higher sleep quality, and higher SE correlated with higher PA the next day. Our findings suggest that sleep quality is more strongly linked to PA than sleep duration.

In backcountry settings, exposure to high altitude and/or cold environments along with rigorous physical activity in a novel environment are physiologically demanding on the human body. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes, and their outputs cortisol (CORT) and testosterone (T), are key in responding to these demands given their roles in energy allocation and somatic distribution. Here, we worked with National Outdoor Leadership School students (n=71; obs = 291) enrolled in ~90-day expeditions in the American West. We measured longitudinal, within-individual patterns of cortisol, testosterone, physical activity, and energy expenditure (kCal/hr) at multiple time points during the expedition. Using linear mixed models, we found that while CORT stayed consistent across the course while baseline T was significantly higher in the final section of the course (p < 0.05). Further, we found that women (but not men) experienced significantly greater declines in T reactivity in the final section of the course. We also found that for women, the interaction of CORT reactivity and time on the course predicted lower kCal/hr (p < 0.05). Comparatively, the interaction of both baseline T and of T reactivity with time on the course predicted physical activity (p < 0.05) and kCal/hr (p < 0.05), but only in men. These results suggest that when acclimatizing to energetically demanding settings, HPA and HPG axis activation and/or dampening may differ between men and women, reflecting differing energetic and somatic demands on individual bodies. Given the psychobiological role of these axes, there are possible implications on psychosocial dynamics.

It is well-established that indigenous highland populations, such as Andeans and Tibetans, exhibit physiological adaptations to hypobaric hypoxia. However, given the distinct ancestries of these populations, it has been hypothesized that they may have adapted differently to the same selective stress. Further, it has been repeatedly posited in the literature that Tibetans are “better adapted” to high altitudes than Andeans. This work aimed to critically investigate these claims by using a mixed-methods approach, leveraging both physiological and ethnographic data. We recruited two groups of healthy adults (aged 18-35) with highland ancestry who were born and current residents at high altitude. The groups were: Andean Quechuas recruited in Cerro de Pasco, Peru (AND, n = 301) and Tibetan Sherpas recruited in Pheriche, Nepal (SHP, n = 64). Participants were tested in field laboratories using identical equipment and protocols, at nearly identical altitudes (mean barometric pressures of 462.5 and 463.5 mmHg, respectively). We assessed a wide variety of cardiorespiratory variables at rest, submaximal exercise, and maximal exercise. We found that although there were some interesting differences between the groups, particularly with respect to the control of breathing during exercise, their overall exercise performance (VO2max) did not differ significantly (AND = 34.5 vs. SHP = 33.4 mL/kg/min; p = 0.33). Thus, our cardiorespiratory data do not support the notion that one group is “better adapted” than the other. This idea was further challenged by ethnographic data gathered from Sherpa interlocutors, who expressed a distinct discomfort with external narratives of their supposed physical superiority.

Human body size and shape generally adhere to Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules, which describe the relationship between climate and the variation in mass and limb length as metabolic and heat retention adaptations. In this paper, we aim to define the relationship between latitude and body size in an historical high latitude population. Individual death records from the Alaska Health Analytics and Vital Records Section (1914-39) with complete data for height, mass, sex, ethnicity, and latitude aged ≥18 (n=12,725) were used to analyze the relationship between latitude and BMI (kg/m2), mass (kg), and surface area to mass ratio (SA/mass) (cm2/kg). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to model this relationship. Latitude alone can predict a decrease in BMI and mass and an increase in SA/mass, but with low R2 values. Controlling for sex and ethnicity improved predicted significant decline of BMI per unit latitude (p<0.001). Non-Alaska Native BMI and mass was significantly higher than Alaska Native Peoples (p<0.001) and decreased with latitude, and non-Alaska Native SA/mass was significantly lower (p<0.001) and decreased with latitude. Results of Alaska Native versus non-Alaska Native comparisons of body size and trends with latitude are contradictory to what Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules predict for cold adapted populations. These results suggest that long-term colonialism against Alaska Native Peoples may have contributed to the biosocial inheritance and embodiment of colonial violence, and therefore the observed discrepancies in what would be expected for Arctic-adapted populations.

Human biologists often use observational data to explore the intricate relationships between cultural, environmental, and biological factors. However, drawing meaningful causal conclusions from these data can be challenging. This talk presents a structured roadmap for causal inference that integrates human biology into the broader movement toward responsible and rigorous research practices. The roadmap provides a clear framework to navigate the complexities of observational data, improving both the accuracy and transparency of findings.

The roadmap consists of five key steps: (1) using ethnographic experience, extant literature, and expert knowledge to specify the research question, causal model, and parameter of scientific interest; (2) assessing causal inference assumptions to determine what statistical parameter can be estimated using observed data; (3) committing to a statistical model that aligns with the specified causal model and parameter of interest; (4) estimating the parameter using appropriate methods; and (5) interpreting the results, considering how well causal assumptions are met and grounding the findings in substantive theory.

Causal directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) play a critical role in this process by clarifying relationships between variables and ensuring thoughtful confounder selection. We will demonstrate this approach using the example of estimating the effect of housing damage from a childhood typhoon on inflammation in young adulthood in Cebu, Philippines. This case study highlights how the roadmap helps define causal relationships, make appropriate statistical choices, and interpret results in alignment with responsible research practices.

Despite a strong understanding of proximate causes of cardiometabolic disease (CMD), less is known about how cumulative lifetime stress enhances risk of CMD. To understand how stress throughout the life course may have downstream effects on morbidity, we examine the association between childhood (≤16 years) and adult (>16 years) stress and CMD outcomes in adults (M: n=2345, F: n=2714, avg. age=63.38±13.10years). Demographic, sociocultural, and biomarker data were obtained from the Health and Aging in Africa: Longitudinal Studies in South Africa dataset, a nationally representative multiyear survey. Multivariate logistic regression analyses, adjusted for age, sex, marital status, education, and wealth index, were performed to determine the cross-sectional associations between metabolic biomarkers and CMD outcomes with childhood and adult stress across three longitudinal cohorts. In Cohort 1, adult stress was significantly associated with the incidence of stroke (p=0.012). In Cohort 2, adult stress was significantly associated with fasting glucose levels (p=0.043), stroke (p=0.017), high blood pressure (p=0.010), and high cholesterol (p=0.006), all indicators of CMD risk; stroke (p=0.016), high blood pressure (p=0.046), and high cholesterol (p=0.001) were associated with childhood stress. In Cohort 3, triglyceride levels were significantly associated with childhood (p=0.002) and adult (p=0.021) stress and high blood pressure was associated with childhood stress (p=0.045). Our results indicate that childhood and adult stress are significantly associated with increased CMD risk in older adults, positing the need for in-depth investigations into the potential causal relationships between lifetime stress and later-life health. Views expressed are not official US Army, DoD, or government policy.

Sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts (SOGICE), commonly referred to as conversion therapy, continue to occur across the United States despite their well-documented harm. This study explores the association between SOGICE exposure and cardiovascular disease risk in sexual and gender minority (SGM) young adults assigned male at birth (AMAB). Data were collected from the RADAR observational cohort in Chicago, Illinois. The sample consisted of 372 SGM AMAB individuals aged 21 to 38 years (M = 28.44; SD = 3.06). Primary outcomes were diastolic and systolic blood pressure (DBP, SBP), systemic inflammation (SI), and self-reported hypertension or high blood pressure (HHBP). Regression analyses adjusted for sociodemographic and behavioral health covariates. Among participants, 7.52% reported SOGICE exposure. Exposed individuals exhibited significantly higher levels of SI (β = 1.52; SE = 0.50), DBP (β = 5.42; SE = 2.44), SBP (β = 5.63; SE = 2.74), and greater odds of HHBP (OR = 3.13; 95% CI, 2.04-4.22). These associations remained significant after controlling for covariates. Our findings suggest that exposure to SOGICE may be a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease among SGM young adults. Moreover, we observe a dose-response with duration of SOGICE exposure and increased cardiovascular disease risk. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the association between SOGICE exposure and cardiovascular health among SGM young adults assigned male at birth. Our results highlight the need for healthcare providers and policymakers to consider the harmful effects of SOGICE on physical health in their efforts to support SGM populations.

Allostatic load (AL) refers to the cumulative burden of chronic stress on physiological systems and has been linked to long-term health outcomes. Understanding the developmental stability of AL during adolescence and its association with adult cardiometabolic health may provide insights into how early-life stressors become physiologically embedded to influence later life outcomes. Using longitudinal data from the Great Smoky Mountains Study, we examined the developmental trajectories of AL in a sample of youth ages 9-16 (n=646) repeatedly measured for biomarkers representing immune, neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and metabolic systems. Further, we explored the association between adolescent AL and adult cardiometabolic health at age 30. An AL score was calculated at each adolescent age using log-transformed and scaled values for cortisol, DHEA-s, cortisol:DHEA-s ratio, C-Reactive Protein, Epstein-Barr Virus and body mass index (BMI). Adult cardiometabolic health was measured using a composite score of blood pressure, BMI, and waist-to-hip ratio. We used linear mixed effects models to evaluate the AL trajectories across adolescence and linear regression models to test the relationship between adolescent AL and adult outcomes. Allostatic load remained stable throughout adolescence: individuals with high AL at study entry maintained elevated AL throughout adolescence and vice versa (β=0.466; SE=0.038; p<0.001). Additionally, childhood AL was associated with adult cardiometabolic health (β=0.479; SE=0.023; p<0.001), with higher AL predicting worse cardiometabolic outcomes at age 30. These results suggest that early-life stress and dysregulation may set individuals on distinct health trajectories through adolescence and into adulthood, highlighting the importance of early intervention to mitigate long-term health risks.

The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) framework posits that early life environments exert a robust and lasting influence on human health. To date, most research focuses on populations where early life and adult environments are highly correlated, hampering our ability to parse early life effects from those of the current environment. Here, we examine early life effects on later life health among the Orang Asli, the Indigenous peoples of Malaysia, many of whom have recently undergone major lifestyle changes such that the Orang Asli live in an extreme range of environments, from remote villages with subsistence-based lifestyles to market-integrated urban communities. Notably, some individuals have adult environments matched to their youth while others dramatic mismatch, allowing us to test the hypothesis that early life environments would independently predict cardiometabolic health measures after adjusting for contemporary lifestyle factors. Using retrospective interview data, we developed two principal component (PC) scores to assess the urbanicity of early life environments and tested associations with body size and cardiometabolic health. Higher PC1 scores (i.e., higher urbanicity in household possessions, diet, and housing) are associated with taller height (total, hip, and knee) and higher body fat in adulthood. Higher PC2 scores (i.e., parents spent less time foraging and growing crops) were associated with taller hip and knee heights, higher cholesterol, higher diastolic blood pressure, and greater central adiposity in adulthood. Importantly, these results exist independent of current environments, indicating persistent early life effects on adult health, supporting the general premise of the DOHaD model.

Sleep disparities, often linked to stressful physical and social environments, are associated with a higher risk of hypertension in high-income countries. However, research on the relationship between sleep, stress, and hypertension remains limited in low- and middle-income countries, where nearly two-thirds of global hypertension cases occur. We investigated whether sleep quantity and quality are associated with increased stress and higher blood pressure among farmers in Madagascar. Sleep quantity was measured using actual sleep time and sleep quality was measured using the fragmentation score. We also measured daytime sleepiness using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), as a functional consequence of insufficient sleep. Stress was measured via the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Based on 452 nights of actigraphy data from 33 adults, the mean actual sleep time was 7.2 hours, mean fragmentation score was 31, and the majority experienced excessive daytime sleepiness. As predicted, a higher stress score on the PSS was associated with shorter actual sleep time, after adjusting for age and gender. Contrary to expectations, actual sleep time and fragmentation score were not significantly associated with blood pressure. Notably, increased blood pressure was associated with increased sleepiness based on the ESS score, consistent with insufficient sleep leading to high blood pressure. Overall, our findings support several expected relationships between stress, sleep, and hypertension in rural Madagascar, suggesting that addressing stress and improving sleep quality could help reduce the high prevalence of hypertension in this population.

Metrics of market engagement, specifically household construction and durable goods ownership, often predict declining cardiometabolic health as populations undergo market integration (MI). However, the mechanisms behind these associations remain unclear. One possible explanation is that these measures reflect changing patterns of social connectedness, a known predictor of health. We tested two hypotheses: 1) social networks change during MI and 2) the Social Support and Reactivity Hypothesis (SSRH), which posits that social connections buffer cardiovascular reactivity during stress. We investigated associations among social networks, MI, and systolic blood pressure in 1,297 participants across three rural villages in northeast Madagascar. In tests of the first hypothesis, we found that individuals with similar housing and goods ownership were more likely to be connected. However, in a linear model, MI metrics were not significantly associated with degree centrality, or the number of social ties reported (p > 0.05). Supporting SSRH, higher degree centrality was associated with lower blood pressure in a linear network autocorrelation model adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index (p < 0.01). Unlike findings from other settings, housing construction was not significantly associated with blood pressure in this model (p > 0.05), and greater durable goods ownership was significantly negatively associated with blood pressure (p < 0.01). Further analyses revealed that social connectedness may better explain blood pressure variation than MI assessments alone. These findings support the hypothesis that social networks change during MI and provide evidence for SSRH, highlighting the health benefits of social connectedness in agricultural contexts.

Understanding coping mechanisms and physiological responses to severe drought is essential for designing effective interventions against extreme climatic events among marginalized populations. The Greater Horn of Africa faced its worst drought in 40 years from October 2020 to 2023. This study draws on qualitative, survey, and fingernail cortisol concentration [FCC] data from the Daasanach Human Biology Project (2019-2024) to evaluate the impact of severe drought on coping strategies and chronic stress. We estimated random-effects panel regression models using 965 observations from 513 adult Daasanach semi-nomadic pastoralists in northern Kenya. Consumption of any fish, a previously unwanted food, rose from 34% in 2019 to 63.6% in 2024. Among a subsample from 2022-2023 with FCC data, each additional day of fish consumption was correlated with higher FCC (β=0.047; 95% CI:0.0004–0.095; P=0.048). Furthermore, FCC increased during the peak of the drought in 2022 from a geometric mean of 9.3pg/mg to 15.5pg/mg at the end of the drought in 2023, an increase of 0.4 SD (β=0.40; 95% CI: 0.29–0.53; P<0.001). Drawing on six focus group discussions conducted in 2024, the stigma against fishing and its consumption in 2019 changed during the drought as communities began to view catching, eating, and selling fish more favorably and as a viable livelihood. These findings highlight a significant change in livelihoods and consumption patterns in response to drought. While fishing served as a coping mechanism, it was associated with increased chronic stress demonstrating the unintended biological consequences of this behavior.

Adoption and fosterage are sometimes considered paradoxical from an evolutionary perspective because parents invest substantial resources into other people’s children. However, the prevalence of these practices over space and time suggest that the costs of adoption and fosterage may be compensated by a variety of benefits to adoptive/ foster (AF) families. We investigate whether demographic predictors of adoption and fosterage are consistent with plausible benefits to AF parents drawn from evolutionary theory. These include indirect benefits accruing via care of kin, remedying demographic deficits in the receiving household (e.g., lacking a child of a desired gender), and securing educational capital that benefits the household economy. Results indicate that roughly 15% of households with children include one or more children without a biological parent in the household. This is despite limited evidence of a formal or legal adoption. Loss of a biological parent due to unstable reproductive unions, migration, or parental death predicts AF, as does acquisition of formal education. Counter to expectations of AF children residing in low-fertility households, AF children tend to reside in larger, more demographically complex households. Overall, results shed light on a variety of motivations for adoption and fosterage that point to short-term costs, but also long-term benefits, for families who care for others’ children.

Pregnancy demands the performance of a delicate balancing act by the maternal immune system, which must maintain tolerance of the developing semi-allogeneic fetus while simultaneously sustaining adequate immune defenses to protect mother and baby from the threat of external pathogens. While prior research has explored the link between social support and immune function in population-based cohorts, few studies have addressed this relationship specifically during pregnancy. Here we follow a longitudinal cohort of 107 women belonging to the Mothers’ Cultural Experiences (MCE) study, an ongoing investigation of the impact that environmental, sociocultural, and political stressors may have on infant development and maternal psychology and biological function during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Maternal plasma pro-inflammatory cytokines were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), while participants were simultaneously assessed using validated measures of mental health, social support, and social relationship quality, at multiple timepoints. In brief, familial social support and relationship quality with partner, maternal grandmother, and paternal grandmother predicted lower scores on measures of participant depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and perceived discrimination, and were additionally associated with elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-8 (IL-8). Our data reveal expected positive associations between psychological health and social support and relationship quality, while variation in immunological markers may reflect patterns of healthy physiological adaptation during pregnancy. Ongoing analyses of this cohort continue to work toward elucidating the precise interactions occurring between social support, psychological health, and immune function in pregnancy.

Background: Fewer pregnancies and shorter breastfeeding duration typify women in post-industrial society today, in contrast to norms throughout our species’ collective past. We must understand the consequences of these life-history changes to evaluate the fitness landscape of post-menopausal longevity. Here, we hypothesize that history of pregnancy and breastfeeding will be positively associated with neurocognitive health in post-menopausal women.

Methods: Data derive from the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS), a cohort of 7,479 post-menopausal women age ≥65. Women completed reproductive history interviews at mean age 65, and then underwent annual global cognitive assessment for up to 13 years and memory testing for up to 8 years. We employed linear mixed-effects models controlling for several covariates.

Results: For our primary hypotheses, each additional month pregnant was associated with higher scores of global cognitive function (p<0.01). Each additional month of breastfeeding corresponded to higher scores of global cognitive function (p=0.003), verbal memory (p=0.008), and visual memory (p=0.013). Similar results were observed for our secondary hypotheses: gravid women showed superior cognitive function compared to nulligravida. Ever-breastfeeding was associated with superior cognitive function. Higher breastfeeding-to-pregnancy ratio was positively associated with superior cognitive function.

Conclusion: We posit that there is an evolutionary mismatch for female reproductive life-history between pre-modern past and contemporary post-industrial populations, contributing to evolutionarily novel susceptibility to cognitive decline. Therefore, to elucidate the fitness consequences of post-menopausal longevity, it may be appropriate to consider a context of post-menopausal women who were more cognitively competent than what is typical in post-industrial populations.

Older adults in the US often relocate to accommodate dynamic life priorities and physical care needs. An increasingly popular residential care model combines housing with a “continuum” of care distributed across three levels (Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Skilled Nursing), through which residents may move as need arises. The aims of this study were to identify associations between environmental factors and the residential experiences amongst 121 older adults living in two continuum-care communities in southern California. Quantitative data were collected with surveys, including questionnaires assessing residential normalcy, attachment to place (APAS), and quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF), and qualitative data were collected with semi-structured interviews and field observations. Data were analyzed for associations between environmental factors and residential experiences. Residence in Skilled Nursing reduced the odds of feeling at home (OR=0.33, 95% CI=0.10 – 1.01), as did shorter length of residence (OR=1.03, 95% CI=1.01 – 1.06). In linear regressions, higher levels of care were associated with feeling less normal in one’s residence (p<0.001) and with lower quality of life (p<0.01). Attachment to one’s residence was associated with the length of time residing in that space (p<0.05). Qualitative data suggest reduced privacy and limited personal belongings at higher levels of care may have affected residential experiences. In conclusion, level of care and length of residence appear to be important factors in the residential experiences of feeling at home and quality of life amongst older adults in continuum-care communities.

Extreme forms of stress derived from displacement, poverty, and armed conflict may confer lasting changes to the neuroendocrine system, impacting the pace of development for children and adolescents. Evolutionary theorists suggest that early life stressors may accelerate or suppress pubertal development due to high psychosocial stress, nutritional disadvantage, and shortened life expectancies. Suppression or acceleration may occur through relationships between the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and gonadal (HPG) axes, which may suppress one another in adulthood but upregulate simultaneously during puberty. ‘Hormonal coupling’ describes the associations between hormones over time, specifically the co-upregulatory associations between cortisol (HPA) and testosterone (HPG). We predicted cortisol and testosterone would not couple at pre-pubertal ages, positively couple at pubertal ages, and de-couple post-puberty. While testosterone reliably increases during puberty, past research on age-related cortisol changes is inconsistent. In U.S. teens, the cortisol-testosterone connection weakens with early life stress. However, it's unclear how stress signals from trauma and insecurity affect hormone coupling in teens affected by displacement and poverty. Using data from Jordanian non-refugees and Syrian refugees (ages 10-19, n = 769) in Jordan, I examined the effects of extreme stressors on cortisol-testosterone coupling at baseline (n=769) and 12 months later (n=225). Blood spots were analyzed for cortisol and testosterone using multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry. I found evidence of positive hormonal coupling and no evidence for de-coupling, with variations by refugee status. Hormonal coupling and de-coupling are likely context-dependent rather than universal patterns. Further, I discuss reflections from community dissemination in Jordan and community-engaged biocultural research.

Background- The objective of this study was to use a metabolomic approach to identify biochemical changes that are potentially associated with mental stress. Methods- In this cross-sectional study we recruited Jordan-based Syrian refugee women and local Jordanian women settled in an urban area in northern Jordan. In this sample of women, we performed psychometric assessment using validated measures of stress and conducted a global quantitative metabolomic analysis in saliva samples collected from the same subjects. This was conducted utilizing the state-of-the-art high-resolution mass spectrometer TIMS-TOF which enables the identification and quantification of differences across most metabolites in saliva samples. Results- Syrian refugee women reported high perceived stress as compared to Jordanian women (mean score ± SD: Syrian refugees = 30.72 ± 9.2, Jordanian women = 27.19 ± 7.7; p = 0.040). Both Jordanian and Syrian women exhibited high scores in Self Reporting questionnaire (SRQ) (mean score ± SD: Syrian refugees = 11.59 ± 4.5, Jordanian women = 10.60 ± 4.7; p = 0.285). Metabolomic analysis revealed higher levels of metabolites which are components of stress, oxidative stress and inflammatory cascades in saliva samples collected from Syrian refugee women as compared to Jordanian women. Conclusion- Mental stress is associated with elevated oxido-inflammatory metabolomic indicators of stress. Further studies focusing on a comprehensive understanding of the stress response system is warranted, which will shed critical insights into the mental stress level of vulnerable communities such as the refugee groups.

The different environments that humans experience profoundly influence physiology, stress responses, and disease susceptibility. The Amazighs, also known as the Berber people, lead distinct ways of life and occupy diverse geographic habitats across Morocco. This variation in living circumstances provides an opportunity to study how lifestyle differences impact physiology at the molecular level. To explore these impacts, we examined functional genomics datasets derived from peripheral blood samples of two distinct groups of Amazighs: one living in traditional rural settings and the other in urban environments. These groups were compared with a focus on immune function and stress biomarkers, which are critical indicators of health and resilience. Our analysis revealed that as much as one third of the transcriptome was significantly associated with the contrasting lifestyles of rural and urban Amazigh groups. Pathway analysis implicated notable divergences in core immune competence between the two groups, which could contribute to varying susceptibilities to disease and stress-related disorders. The urban lifestyle, in particular, was associated with an increased burden of stress, both psychological and immune-related. This is consistent with broader research suggesting that urban environments, characterized by higher levels of pollution, noise, social stressors, and lifestyle changes, can significantly alter physiological responses and increase susceptibility to complex diseases.

In this study, we focused on local narratives and the understanding of complex concepts such as sense of agency and life satisfaction to determine the pathways of influence resulting from community-based interventions on these constructs and the dimensions where the impact is most tangible. The study showcases We Love Reading, a program that trains local volunteers to read aloud to children, ultimately aiming to change mindsets and nurture changemakers both locally and globally.

A mixed-methods approach was used, combining quantitative measures of agency, self-efficacy, and life satisfaction with semi-quantitative focus group discussions utilizing fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM). FCM was used to discover, through visual representations of cause-and-effect connections, how participants perceive complex concepts like agency and life satisfaction, and to simulate scenarios of change. This approach also assessed the impact of community-based interventions on these systems. Participants included Jordanian and Syrian women from urban communities in Amman, Jordan.

The findings from this study hold significant implications for understanding how community-based interventions, such as We Love Reading, can foster a sense of agency and improve life satisfaction among marginalized populations and host communities. Utilizing participatory approaches like fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) and engaging locals to systematically navigate pathways for personal and communal transformation is crucial for sustainable human development that aligns with cultural relevance.

Persistent and profound stress and trauma, such as that experienced during war and displacement, often result in increased risk of mental and physical health difficulties. One possible mechanism of these increased risks may be through the acceleration of biological aging during crucial developmental periods, such as adolescence, which has been associated with poor health and increased long-term health risks in adults. However, interventions which address traumatic stress, as well as building skills and social networks to prevent further stress, may mitigate or ameliorate these effects. Using data from the Advancing Adolescence randomized control trial (RCT) for at risk non-displaced Jordanian and displaced Syrian adolescents living in Jordan, we will present data on our investigation of whether participation in an 8-week intervention aimed at stress reduction, vocational competency and community involvement is linked with changes in epigenetic age relative to chronological age. Buccal swabs were taken from participants at three different time points—baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up—to examine both the immediate, short-term effects and long-term effects of such an intervention on biology. The study looks at individual and group-level patterns of EAA and evaluates the interaction of psychological and physiologic changes in response to the intervention. This research aims to increase our knowledge of how such interventions might modify the biological embedding of stress throughout adolescence, to add to the burgeoning literature on the junction of resilience, stress physiology, and epigenetics, with implications for reducing health inequalities among vulnerable groups.

Prediabetes is a transitional stage in Type 2 Diabetes where cardiovascular (CV) complications begin. Our previous work in non-obese prediabetic male rats linked early CV and metabolic impairments to inflammation and hypoxia in thoracic perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT). Given the lack of pharmacological interventions targeting PVAT hypoxia and unclear sex differences, we hypothesized that therapeutic fasting (TF) could alleviate PVAT dysfunction and CV stress in a sex-dependent manner.

Sprague-Dawley rats (4–5 weeks old) were divided into control diet (C), mild hyper-caloric (MHC) diet, and MHC with TF. After 12 weeks of ad libitum feeding, the TF group fasted daily from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM for 12 weeks while maintaining MHC intake. Metabolic, cardiovascular, and autonomic parameters were assessed, and invasive hemodynamic, vascular reactivity, and molecular analyses were conducted. To evaluate the role of female sex hormones, three additional female groups underwent ovariectomy (OVX) at week 12 before following the same dietary regimen.

MHC feeding induced non-obese prediabetes, CV dysfunction, and PVAT impairment in males, while intact females resisted these effects. OVX females developed an obese prediabetic phenotype with CV and metabolic impairments. MHC feeding led to macrophage infiltration, oxidative stress, and fibrosis in cardiac, aortic, and brainstem tissues. Strikingly, TF mitigated these pathologies in males and OVX females, alleviating PVAT hypoxia and restoring CV function. Our findings highlight TF as a potential non-pharmacological strategy to counteract prediabetes-related CV insults in a sex-dependent manner.