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Die Nachfrage in westlichen Ländern nach ayurvedischen Produkten steigt stetig seit ihrer Überbringung (Warrier 2011: 80; Warrier 2020: 643). Während ayurvedische Wellnessangebote schon relativ verbreitet sind, wird dem medizinischen Teil Ayurvedas Unwissenschaftlichkeit vorgeworfen und daher weniger Vertrauen geschenkt (Kumar 2016: 192; Smith und Wujastyk 2008: 22 f.; Warrier 2020: 643). Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es heraus zu finden inwieweit ayurvedische Produkte ein potentielles Substitut für westliche Medizin und Wellnessprodukte in deutschen und österreichischen Haushalten sind und welche Auswirkung die Affinität der Probanden zu naturbasierten Produkten auf diese Substituierbarkeit hat. Diese Frage wurde durch qualitativen, semistrukturierten Interviews untersucht und mittels qualitativer Inhaltsanalyse nach Mayring (2022) analysiert. Die Auswertung hat gezeigt, dass die Probandinnen sowohl ayurvedische Medizin als auch Wellnessprodukte anstatt westliche, chemiebasierte Produkte nutzen und hohe Loyalität gegenüber den Produkten zeigen, die sie nutzen (Cerulli 2012; Chandran et al. 2020: 117; Cyranski 2016; Frank und Stollberg 2002; Kumar 2016; Tripathy 2019; Warrier 2020). Außerdem kann man festhalten, dass die Affinität zu naturbasierten Produkten positive Auswirkungen auf den Konsum von ayurvedischen Produkten hat (Chandran 2020; Saks 2008; Sujatha 2020; Tirodkar 2008; Tripathy 2019: 418; Warrier 2020: 643)., The demand for Ayurvedic products in Western countries has been steadily increasing since their introduction (Warrier 2011: 80; Warrier 2020: 643). While ayurvedic wellness offerings are already relatively widespread, the medical part of Ayurveda has been accused of being unscientific and is therefore less trusted (Kumar 2016: 192; Smith und Wujastyk 2008: 22 f.; Warrier 2020: 643). The aim of this study is to determine to what extent Ayurvedic products can serve as a potential substitute for Western medicine and wellness products in German and Austrian households, and what the impact of the participants' affinity towards nature-based products is on this substitutability. This question was investigated through qualitative, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using qualitative content analysis according to Mayring (2022). The results showed that participants use Ayurvedic medicine and wellness products instead of Western, chemistry-based products and also showed high loyalty towards the products they use (Cerulli 2012; Chandran et al. 2020: 117; Cyranski 2016; Frank und Stollberg 2002; Kumar 2016; Tripathy 2019; Warrier 2020). Additionally, it can be concluded that an affinity towards nature-based products has a positive effect on the consumption of Ayurvedic products (Chandran 2020; Saks 2008; Sujatha 2020; Tirodkar 2008; Tripathy 2019: 418; Warrier 2020: 643).

Red raspberry cultivars that produce fruit on current season canes (primocanes) can produce additional fruit the following year on floricanes. The primocane-fruiting raspberries ‘Himbo Top’, ‘Joan J’, and ‘Polka’ were grown organically in high tunnels and pruned to different floricane densities to determine the effects on fruit yield (primocane, floricane, total) and harvest times. Floricane densities were 0, 2.4, or 4.8 canes per meter of row length in 2015, and 0, 4.9, or 9.8 canes per meter in 2016 and 2017. Total yield (floricane plus primocane) was significantly greater with low floricane density (17 t·ha−1) or high density (19 t·ha−1) compared with no floricanes (12 t·ha−1). Floricane density did not affect primocane yield or harvest times. Primocanes of ‘Polka’ were taller when floricanes were present, but primocanes of other cultivars were unaffected. Results indicate that producing fruit on both primocanes and floricanes (double cropping) can improve sustainable overall yields.

In the summer of 2014, students from universities in the contiguous United States (Lower 48) and Inupiat youth from Alaska carried out a pilot project as participants/co-researchers in a process called Intergenerational Dialog, Exchange, and Action (IDEA). This action-oriented, community-based, and participatory research method was first developed in 2008, as a platform for structuring dialog between adults, Elders and youth within a community, and for extending resonant ideas emerging from these discussions through Photovoice and digital storytelling amongst youth participants. This pilot study was designed to investigate the feasibility and potential of university students from the Lower 48 and Indigenous youth from Alaska to carry out the IDEA process together as co-researchers. The results of the pilot suggest that it is both possible and meaningful for IDEA to be conducted by a team of youth co-researchers. We found that participation in IDEA expanded the perspectives of youth co-researchers ...

This article presents evidence from one Northern Inuit community showing that networks associated with the exchange of traditional knowledge and subsistence foods among households overlap with alcohol co-use patterns. The findings presented here are based on a large social network research project that included 330 interviews with adult residents of a single community over the course of more than five months. These data belie depictions of alcohol use as solely pathological in indigenous communities. The fact that relationships at the center of traditional/cultural activities are simultaneously relationships through which ostensibly damaging behaviors are enacted necessarily presents a more complex picture than is often depicted in literature on Aboriginal mental health and well-being. Culture, we illustrate, is not a separate sphere of life where individual and collective well-being is produced by activities deemed healthy, excluding those behaviors understood as damaging. Instead, the sources of cultura...

The importance of community relocation experiences for aboriginal land claims movements is well documented; the role played by successful land claims in prompting ongoing out-migration is not. Data collected in 2011 on the lives of migrants are used to test three hypotheses: H1, Inuit leaving the land claims area for a nearby nonaboriginal city show markedly different social outcomes based on the length of time since migration; H2, these social outcomes map onto patterns of intergroup boundaries in their new communities; and H3, both of these outcomes are better explained by migration patterns after the land claims than by the ethnic/racial exclusion that has been the focus of past research on inequality in the region. This analysis takes advantage of social network techniques used to study hard-to-reach populations, showing how these methods can be used to address broader questions of community structure and cohesion during rapid social change. Conclusions focus on the experiences of migrants on the marg...

Mindfulness meditation is being advocated as a promising new educational, clinical, and social intervention for youth, fueled by new evidence from neuroscience about the benefits of “growing the brain through meditation,” convergent with recent data on developmental neuroplasticity. Although still marginal and in some cases controversial, secular programs of mindfulness have been implemented with ambitious goals of improving attentional focus of pupils, social-emotional learning in “at-risk” children and youth and, not least, to intervene in problems of poverty and incarceration. In this article, we present insights from an ongoing study involving teachers and mentors working with young people using mindfulness education from an emerging project on the social and cultural contexts of “neuroeducation.” Our analysis points to the role of neuroscience in positioning these programs as legitimate and progressive, based on state-of-the-art science. We discuss the tensions arising from their moral reframing of social problems associated with poverty and inequality.

This chapter charts the contributions of anthropology to public mental health. It examines three main traditions in anthropological practice: (i) individual-level approaches, investigating mental health beliefs, behaviours, and illness narratives; (ii) meso-level approaches, assessing the provision, nature, and practice of mental health care systems; and (iii) macro-level approaches, examining the mental health impact of societal structures, including political and economic structures. It emphasizes the importance of moving among different levels of analysis. The chapter also provides case study material on suicide in the Arctic. The chapter concludes by discussing climate change and other emerging public mental health challenges, suggesting a multi-scale, interdisciplinary ecological approach.

Indigenous communities across the Alaskan Arctic have experienced profound revisions of livelihood, culture, and autonomy over the past century of colonization, creating radical discontinuities between the lives of young people and those of their parents and Elders. The disrupted processes of identity development, access to livelihoods, and cross-generational mentorship associated with colonialism have created complex challenges for youth as they envision and enact viable paths forward in the context of a rapidly changing Arctic home. In this study, we consider the meanings associated with different constructions of culture and selfhood, and the ways in which these identity narratives position Inupiaq Alaskan Native youth in relation to their personal and collective futures. Through an intergenerational and participatory inquiry process, this study explores how representations of shared heritage, present-day struggles, resilience, and hope can expand possibilities for youth and thus impact individual and community health.

Fibrosis is characterized by the excessive deposition of extracellular matrix and crosslinked proteins, in particular collagen and elastin, leading to tissue stiffening and disrupted organ function. Lysyl oxidases are key players during this process, as they initiate collagen crosslinking through the oxidation of the ε‐amino group of lysine or hydroxylysine on collagen side‐chains, which subsequently dimerize to form immature, or trimerize to form mature, collagen crosslinks. The role of LOXL2 in fibrosis and cancer is well documented, however the specific enzymatic function of LOXL2 and LOXL3 during disease is less clear. Herein, we describe the development of PXS‐5153A, a novel mechanism based, fast‐acting, dual LOXL2/LOXL3 inhibitor, which was used to interrogate the role of these enzymes in models of collagen crosslinking and fibrosis. PXS‐5153A dose‐dependently reduced LOXL2‐mediated collagen oxidation and collagen crosslinking in vitro. In two liver fibrosis models, carbon tetrachloride or streptozotocin/high fat diet‐induced, PXS‐5153A reduced disease severity and improved liver function by diminishing collagen content and collagen crosslinks. In myocardial infarction, PXS‐5153A improved cardiac output. Taken together these results demonstrate that, due to their crucial role in collagen crosslinking, inhibition of the enzymatic activities of LOXL2/LOXL3 represents an innovative therapeutic approach for the treatment of fibrosis.

Indigenous people living in the Circumpolar North rely, to varying degrees, on the natural environment and the resources it provides for their lifestyle and livelihoods. As a consequence, these Northern Indigenous peoples may be more sensitive to global climate change, which has implications for food security, cultural practices, and health and well-being. To date, most research on the human dimensions of climate change in the Circumpolar North has focused on biophysical issues and their consequences, such as changing sea ice regimes affecting travel to hunting grounds or the effects of melting permafrost on built infrastructure. Less is known about how these changes in the environment affect mental health and well-being. In this paper, we build upon existing research, combined with our community-based research and professional mental health practices, to outline some pathways and mechanisms through which climate change may adversely impact mental health and well-being in the Circumpolar North. Our analysis indicates that mental health may be affected by climate change due to changes to land, ice, snow, weather, and sense of place; impacts to physical health; damage to infrastructure; indirect impacts via media, research, and policy; and through the compounding of existing stress and distress. We argue that climate change is likely an emerging mental health challenge for Circumpolar Indigenous populations and efforts to respond through research, policy, and mental health programming should be a priority. We conclude by identifying next steps in research, outlining points for policy, and calling for additional mental health resources that are locally responsive and culturally relevant.

This paper describes results from a network survey of Nain – a predominantly Inuit community of ~1200 people located on the northern coast of Labrador. As part of a larger social network research project, we used peer-referral sampling to recruit 330 residents for interviews about food sharing, housing, public health and community traditions. The peer-referral chains were analysed statistically to determine the presence and absence of social divisions in the community. The results of these analyses show that ethnic identification, relocation status and household income were the most significant social divisions in the community, while gender, education level and employment status show little or no effect on patterns of between-group interconnection. We argue that statistical patterns in the presence (and absence) of intergroup links offer novel ways to examine the interrelationship between recent economic development and the historical disruptions caused by Inuit community relocations in the 1950s.

In recent Inuit ethnography, a major concern has been how and to what extent contemporary Inuit participate in and depend on subsistence activities, particularly in the context of increasing wage employment and growing participation in the cash economy. This paper provides an analysis of these activities in the predominately Inuit community of Nain, Labrador. Using social network data and demographic information collected between January and June 2010, we examine the interconnections between subsistence activities—obtaining “country food” through activities such as hunting, fishing, and collecting—with access to the means of obtaining subsistence resources (such as snow mobiles, cabins, and boats), employment status, and income. Our data indicate that individuals with higher employment status and income tend to be more central to the network of subsistence food sharing, but not because they have greater access to hunting tools or equipment (they do not). We conclude that those individuals who play the most central role in the network are those who are financially able to do so, regardless of access to hunting tools/means.

Kinship, family, and household have received considerable attention in Inuit studies; this paper takes a comparative social networks approach to these issues. Here kinship connections are represented in network form as a composite of individual kinship dyads of descent, coparentage, or siblingship. The composite kinship network is then used as a standard of measure for the pair-wise distances of exchange/dependency dyads appearing in other social networks within the community (including the country-food distribution network, store-bought-food-sharing network, traditional-knowledge network, alcohol-co-use network, household-wellness networks, job- referrals network, and the housing network). This analysis allows us to gauge the role that kinship (of various distances, including household and family) plays in structuring exchanges across these various network domains. The data used here was collected in Nain, Labrador in January–June 2010. From 330 interviews, we extracted more than 4,900 exchanges and patterns of helping relationships among the 749 current adult residents of the community, and more than 10,000 kinship connections among a total of 1,687 individuals directly linked by descent, marriage or coparentage. The results of this analysis show that past emphasis on kin-oriented exchange in Inuit communities has mistakenly emphasized the nature of the exchange item (traditional versus store-bought (cash) economy) thereby missing important data on the nature of the exchange itself (reciprocal or one-way).

Mindfulness meditation has recently become mainstream, secular, and backed by evidence from neuroimaging studies about the benefits of “growing the brain through meditation.” Touted as the latest tool for educational curricula, psychotherapy, and intervention for at-risk or disenfranchised youth, it has garnered widespread excitement and investment for its promises to help cultivate self-regulation, empathy, and attentional focus, while being both non-invasive and empowering for young people. The mindfulness movement has, however, also been subject to skepticism, with critics raising caution about the “shadows” of mindfulness, pointing to its (often inadvertent) effects of depoliticizing social problems associated with inequality and poverty, occasional association with adverse behavioral effects, and its instrumental use as a technique for boosting productivity in the corporate workplace. In this paper, we present insights from a project on neuroscience and education, and illustrate some of the tensions surrounding mindfulness as seen from the perspectives of educators and policy makers. We apply a critical neuroscience framework to analyze the role of the brain in underpinning and undermining the mindfulness movement and to understand the reported challenges and promises of mindfulness. We point to a general ambivalence surrounding the potential of mindfulness meditation as an intervention for youth.

Transcriptional gene silencing has been reported with siRNA targeting the promoter region of genes. We tested several siRNAs directed against the human VEGF promoter. Of these, siVFp(−992) exhibited ≥50% suppression of VEGF production in two human cell lines. To determine the specificity of this siRNA-mediated suppression, plasmids were prepared to express a luciferase reporter under the control of VEGF promoters featuring wild-type, mutated, or deleted target sequences. siRNA transfection assays established sequence-specific inhibition of luciferase from the reporter plasmid featuring the wild-type VEGF promoter. However, siVFp(−992) also suppressed the luciferase expression from the plasmids with mutated or deleted target sites, suggesting that silencing was due to a sequence-specific off-target phenomenon, and this was supported by subsequent microarray and bioinformatics analyses. To determine if our concerns regarding the specificity of promoter targeting siRNAs were relevant to other systems where RNA-mediated transcriptional silencing had been previously reported, we tested a published small RNA sequence directed to the HIVSF2-LTR promoter. siRNA transfection assays performed in human cells expressing a luciferase reporter gene under the control of the HIVSF2-LTR promoter revealed significant suppression whether the target sequence was intact or mutated, or when the entire HIVSF2-LTR was replaced by an irrelevant promoter. These data stress the need to examine target specificity when conducting investigations into transcriptional gene regulation with siRNA.

Recent years have seen the rise of historical trauma as a construct to describe the impact of colonization, cultural suppression, and historical oppression of Indigenous peoples in North America (e.g., Native Americans in the United States, Aboriginal peoples in Canada). The discourses of psychiatry and psychology contribute to the conflation of disparate forms of violence by emphasizing presumptively universal aspects of trauma response. Many proponents of this construct have made explicit analogies to the Holocaust as a way to understand the transgenerational effects of genocide. However, the social, cultural, and psychological contexts of the Holocaust and of post-colonial Indigenous “survivance” differ in many striking ways. Indeed, the comparison suggests that the persistent suffering of Indigenous peoples in the Americas reflects not so much past trauma as ongoing structural violence. The comparative study of genocide and other forms of massive, organized violence can do much to illuminate both common mechanisms and distinctive features, and trace the looping effects from political processes to individual experience and back again. The ethics and pragmatics of individual and collective healing, restitution, resilience, and recovery can be understood in terms of the self-vindicating loops between politics, structural violence, public discourse, and embodied experience.

This qualitative study of youth resilience takes place in an Alaska Native community, which has undergone rapid, imposed social change over the last three generations. Elders, and successive generations have grown up in strikingly different social, economic and political contexts. Youth narratives of relationships in the context of adolescent growth and development offer insights to better understand culturally-patterned experience, continuity and change. Local youth and adults shaped the design, implementation and analysis phases of this participatory study. Multiple interviews, totaling 20 older (ages 15–18) and younger (11–14) boys and girls provide accounts of everyday lives and life histories. Although losing close relationships was the most common stressor, many of the participants’ resilience strategies centered on their connections to others. Participants cultivated ‘relatedness’, nurturing relationships that took on kinship qualities. Within these relationships, youth participants acted more responsibly and/or developed a sense of competency and self-worth because of others’ reliance on them.

Cellular junctions are essential to the normal functioning of the endothelium and control angiogenesis, tissue leak, and inflammation. From a screen of micro RNAs (miRNAs) altered in in vitro angiogenesis, we selected a subset predicted to target junctional molecules. MiR-27a was rapidly downregulated upon stimulation of in vitro angiogenesis, and its level of expression is reduced in neovessels in vivo. The downregulation of miR-27a was essential for angiogenesis because ectopic expression of miR-27a blocked capillary tube formation and angiogenesis. MiR-27a targets the junctional, endothelial-specific cadherin, VE-cadherin. Consistent with this, vascular permeability to vascular endothelial growth factor in mice is reduced by administration of a general miR-27 inhibitor. To determine that VE-cadherin was the dominant target of miR-27a function, we used a novel technology with "Blockmirs," inhibitors that bind to the miR-27 binding site in VE-cadherin. The Blockmir CD5-2 demonstrated specificity for VE-cadherin and inhibited vascular leak in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, CD5-2 reduced edema, increased capillary density, and potently enhanced recovery from ischemic limb injury in mice. The Blockmir technology offers a refinement in the use of miRNAs, especially for therapy. Further, targeting of endothelial junctional molecules by miRNAs has clinical potential, especially in diseases associated with vascular leak.

Part I: Foundational Considerations for Effective Collaboration. Brenner, Fundamentals of Collaboration. Moses, An Anthropologist Among Disaster Caregivers. Buechler, Disaster Relief: Emotional Values. Covello, Principles of Risk Communication. Pandya, Ethical and Legal Considerations in Postdisaster Interdisciplinary Collaborations. Harris, Thornton, Engdahl, The Psychospiritual Impact of Disaster: An Overview. Part II: Collaboration in Action: Tensions, Challenges, and Opportunities. Daniels, Collaborating With a Community College in Post-Katrina New Orleans: Organizational and Personal Reflections. Jarry, Working as an Ally to Underserved Communities: The Role of Faith, Coordination, and Partnerships in Response to the 2001 World Trade Center Attack. Smith, Taylor, Larkin, North, Ryan, Holmes, On Reentering the Chapel: Models for Collaborations Between Psychiatrists, Communities of Faith, and Faith-Based Providers After Hurricane Katrina. Gensler, Collaboration in Working With Children Affected by Diaster. Berliner, Ryan, Taylor, Making Referrals: Effective Collaboration Between Mental Health and Spiritual Care Practitioners. Shah, "To Do No Harm" Spiritual Care and Ethnomedical Competence: Four Cases of Psychosocial Trauma Recovery for the 2004 Tsunami and 2005 Earthquake in South Asia. Part III: Collaboratively Nurturing Resilience After Catastrophic Trauma. Ellison, Katz, Rituals, Routines, and Resilience. Danieli, Fundamentals of Working with (Re)traumatized Populations. Wyatt, Reaching Out to Create Moments of Communal Healing: Personal Reflections From the Edge of the 9/11 Abyss. Milstein, Manierre, Normative and Diagnostic Reactions to Disaster: Clergy and Clinician Collaboration to Facilitate a Continuum of Care.

Background: Malignant B cells from patients with chronic B lymphocytic leukemia (B CLL) generally express both surface IgM and the pan T cell antigen CD5, a characteristic of the B1 population of B lymphocytes. The IgM on the surface of these B CLL cells is frequently polyreactive with respect to its capacity to recognize multiple structurally dissimilar antigens (Ag). Objectives: To understand the structural characteristics of the polyreactive binding sites of human IgM molecules expressed on B CLL cells by: (1) analyzing the nucleotide and protein sequences of the variable (V) domains of five IgM molecules expressed in cases of B CLL and; (2) utilizing these sequences to generate three-dimensional (3D) models of Fv (VL−VH) molecules. Study design: Peripheral blood leukocytes obtained from five cases of B CLL were tested for polyreactive binding properties by assessing their capacity to bind mouse IgG by indirect immunofluorescence. The V region genes of light and heavy chains were amplified using the polymerase chain reaction, subsequently cloned and their nucleotide sequences obtained. Translated amino acid sequences of the V domains were used to generate homology models of the Fv molecules. Results: Low affinity binding of mouse IgG was demonstrated for all B CLL samples examined, confirming the polyreactive nature of the IgM expressed on these cells. There was an absence or minimal mutation within V region genes when compared to germline Ig genes. Junctional diversity was not observed for VL regions, although truncations and insertions were frequent in D minigenes of VH regions. The binding sites were predicted to form either relatively flat surfaces with occasional protrusions or cavities at the VL−VH domain interface. Aromatic side chains covered a large proportion of the potential binding surfaces in the models of B CLL Fv components. Discussion: Primary DNA sequences can be categorized as germline, suggesting that the B cells involved in B CLL are germline or naive in origin. The medium to large HCDR3s provide the majority of probable contact residues for antigens. While prominent aromatic residues are likely to engage in binding patterns which are conserved (e.g. mouse Ig reactivity), the diverse binding sites predicted for B CLL-derived IgMs also have properties which are conducive to polyreactive antigen binding.

The ability to control protein and cell positioning on a microscopic scale is crucial in many biomedical applications, such as tissue engineering and the development of biosensors. We demonstrate here that the assembly of collagen on patterned surfaces produced by the dewetting of metastable poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PNVP) films on top of polystyrene films supports the adhesion and survival of a biologically relevant cell type, human endothelial cells. Micropatterning of Type 1 collagen was achieved on such substrates by exploiting the different protein affinity of the two polymers, the effect of treatment with an air plasma, and the control over the nanoscale assembly of collagen using different adsorption conditions. The simplicity of the dewetting approach, coupled with the ability to coat and pattern non-planar substrates, gives rise to possible applications in the coating of biological implants such as arterial stents.