Search Results (62)

Bedouin society in the Negev/Naqab has experienced rapid social, spatial, and economic transformation, including expanded access to higher education and paid employment alongside enduring kinship obligations and gendered expectations. Guided by an ecological perspective on family life, this qualitative descriptive study examined how married, educated, and employed Bedouin women and men described their experiences at the intersection of social change, family relationships, parenting, gendered work, and place. Twenty-four participants (12 women and 12 men), aged 28–60, participated in semi-structured interviews. Data underwent reflexive thematic analysis. Four interconnected patterns were identified: (1) negotiating household-level autonomy within extended-family belonging; (2) pursuing marital partnership while unequal care and public authority persisted; (3) treating children’s education as both an intergenerational resource and a present-day strain; and (4) experiencing locality and planning status as conditions that shaped family security and everyday coordination. Rather than presenting a linear movement from “tradition” to “modernity”, participants’ accounts suggest that family change is an ecological process: everyday marital and parental arrangements are negotiated within kin networks, work demands, community expectations, and their location’s material conditions. The study contributes to family science by showing how dual-earner family processes in a collectivist, Indigenous-minority context are shaped not only by household-level role negotiation, but also by spatial governance and collective belonging. Full article

This article theorises Hmong migration through the concept of resettled histories, understood as the social and political processes through which histories of war, flight, loss, survival, and belonging are carried into new places, translated into new institutional languages, and contested across generations. Rather than approaching Hmong mobility as a linear movement from Southeast Asia to Western resettlement countries, the article situates Hmong migrations within longer histories of upland mobility, imperial and colonial governance, Cold War militarisation, refugee camps, and contemporary diasporic reconstruction. In response to scholarship on collective memory, postmemory, diasporic memory, refugee critique, digital diaspora, and Asian American studies, the article clarifies that resettled histories are not simply memories preserved after migration. They are histories that become socially active after resettlement through community organisations, veteran memorialisation, Hmong New Year celebrations, oral-history projects, clan networks, digital platforms, political mobilisation, and intergenerational debate. The article also foregrounds differences among Hmong communities by gender, generation, religion, class, political position, national location, and relations to Laos, China, Thailand, France, Australia, and the United States. By engaging contemporary Hmong scholarship and Hmong-produced archives alongside foundational migration and memory theory, the article shows how displaced communities do not merely adapt to host societies; they also struggle to have their histories recognised, narrated, and transmitted. The Hmong case demonstrates that resettlement may provide legal security without ending the historical life of displacement. It therefore offers a lens for rethinking migration as the movement and reconstruction of histories, not only the movement of people. Full article

Pregnancy represents a critical eco-biological window during which maternal physiology integrates environmental exposures, lifestyle factors, and interconnected microbial ecosystems to shape fetal development and long-term health. From a One Health perspective, defined here as the interconnection between maternal health, environmental determinants, and microbial ecosystems across generations, the maternal microbiome functions as a dynamic interface linking the external environment to the intrauterine milieu, translating ecological signals into immunological, metabolic, and neuroendocrine pathways that influence placental function and developmental programming. Across gut, vaginal, oral, and mammary niches, maternal microbial communities operate as an integrated network regulating systemic inflammation, metabolic homeostasis, and the production of bioactive metabolites, including short-chain fatty acids, bile acids, and tryptophan derivatives. This review proposes an integrated systems framework in which pregnancy is viewed as a transient ecological system shaped by ten interconnected maternal determinants, encompassing microbial niches, nutrition, lifestyle factors, medical interventions, mode of delivery, and postnatal microbial transmission, that converge on shared microbiome-mediated signaling pathways affecting fetal and neonatal immune, metabolic, and neurodevelopmental trajectories. Broader macro-environmental drivers, including biodiversity loss, urbanization, pollution, and industrialized lifestyles, are considered as upstream modulators of maternal microbial ecology within a One Health context. A systems model is presented to illustrate how environmental inputs are biologically transduced through maternal microbial networks to influence placental function, fetal development, and early-life health trajectories. Framing pregnancy as an integrated eco-biological continuum highlights the maternal microbiome as a central hub of intergenerational health and may support microbiome-informed preventive strategies and public health approaches aimed at reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) of early-life origin. Full article

Somali refugee mothers navigating parenting in the United States face compounding challenges that extend well beyond the initial resettlement period. This study employed a multi-method qualitative design, including utilizing a focus group and follow-up key informant interviews with Somali refugee mothers. Thematic framework analysis identified three overarching domains of challenges and resilience. First, a pervasive deficit of functional literacy, defined as the practical capacity to navigate American institutional systems, emerged as the primary stressor, superseding material poverty as a barrier to daily functioning. Second, significant intergenerational tensions were documented, including role reversal between mothers and children, erosion of parental authority, and breakdown of the traditional expectations that adult children provide financial and social support to aging parents. Third, single motherhood amplified all other stressors, producing progressive role strain and mental health decline in the absence of extended family support. Despite these challenges, participants demonstrated substantial resilience through informal mutual aid networks, religious practice, and deliberate cultural and linguistic preservation. Findings have direct implications for the design of culturally responsive resettlement programming, family counseling services, and mental health interventions for Somali refugee populations. Full article

Coral reefs in the Gulf of Eilat maintain a high diversity of ~100 stony coral species. Despite intense competition for a limited substrate, this raises fundamental questions about spatial organization and mechanisms of coexistence. This study combines deep learning species classification with spatial point-pattern analysis to quantify the frequency of intragenus versus intergenus competitive contacts among four dominant coral genera, Acropora, Favia, Platygyra, and Stylophora, across 12 standardized transects at four reef sites. The ResNet-50 convolutional neural network achieved 92.3% test accuracy for genus-level identification in field imagery of 1100 test images, enabling automated detection of 487 coral–coral competitive pairs exhibiting direct physical contact. Intragenus pairs comprised only 18.3% (89/487) of contacts, significantly below the 50% expected under spatial randomness (z = −14.0, p < 0.0001) with pair correlation functions g(r) > 1 at sub-meter scales indicating conspecific clustering. Genus-specific pair frequencies correlated strongly with relative abundance and spatial coverage (r = 1), with ecological traits explaining dominance patterns: fast-growing, competitive Acropora generated high contact rates, while stress-tolerant Favia and Platygyra prevailed through longevity and defensive competition. These findings demonstrate that intergeneric competition dominates despite local congeneric aggregation, maintaining diversity through niche partitioning rather than intransitive networks, even as coral cover declines amid rising temperatures above 0.05 °C yr⁻¹ and historical eutrophication. The deep learning workflow provides a scalable baseline for monitoring anthropogenic impacts on coral competition dynamics. Full article

Food markets represent a public good essential for urban supply and as intergenerational spaces supporting the small-scale economy, yet they face growing challenges in adapting to sustainability regulations and circular economy requirements. This study examines the current state of sustainability in Madrid’s municipal markets through interviews and questionnaires administered to market managers, analyzing building characteristics, renewable energy systems, passive savings strategies, and energy costs across different market typologies. Results reveal that in December 2025, only 9% of markets had solar thermal installations, while merely 11% were planning photovoltaic solar panel projects—figures insufficient to meet current EU energy efficiency mandates. The findings demonstrate a significant gap between existing infrastructure and the requirements of the Directive (EU) 2023/1791, which supersedes previous directives. These results indicate an urgent need for accelerated implementation of renewable energy systems in market buildings to achieve sustainability targets. The study contributes baseline data for developing intervention strategies that can reduce energy consumption and align Madrid’s market network with European decarbonization goals for 2030 and 2050. Full article

Abusive relationships are too often explained solely in terms of individual behaviour, as if a woman’s decision to stay were simply a matter of psychology or poor judgement. In South African communities, however, the reality is considerably more complex. The reasons women remain are situated within what can be described as a distorted process of care: a network of relational, material, and structural forces that alter the very meaning of care itself. This study aimed to explore these interconnections. Guided by an ethics of care framework, we employed multimodal qualitative methods to engage participants from four South African communities between August 2024 and July 2025. Participants (n = 262) were recruited through snowball, purposive, and convenience sampling. Data were coded using ATLAS.ti V8 and analysed thematically. Five interconnected themes shaped the framework. Distorted care described how caregiving could become coercive, shaped by fear, rigid gender roles, intergenerational abuse, and substance misuse. Care under constraint highlighted the material limitations, financial dependency, daily survival challenges, and self-sacrificing caregiving, that left women depleted. The silence of care captured emotional withdrawal, isolation, and the disabling effect of shame on help-seeking. Reclaiming care traced the tentative routes towards healing through ethical self-care, faith, forgiveness, and a conscious effort to disrupt harmful patterns. Woven throughout was structural failure, including absent family networks, the moral decline of communities, and institutional systems that consistently failed women. Remaining in an abusive relationship is not a sign of weakness. It is a negotiation, profoundly constrained, within systems of care that have been fundamentally distorted. Effective intervention should move beyond framing gender-based violence as an individual problem and address it as a collective one, restoring care as a shared social and political responsibility. Full article

Resveratrol (RSV), a bioactive polyphenol, has emerged as a pleiotropic modulator within the integrated pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD) across the life course. Effective CVD management requires a transition from organ-centric frameworks to systems-level models that acknowledge dynamic crosstalk among metabolic, renal, and cardiovascular networks. Oxidative stress constitutes a central unifying axis in this interconnected biology, propagating cross-organ injury from early developmental stages onward. Mechanistically, RSV acts as a redox-responsive gene regulator by activating the Nrf2–ARE pathway, restoring nitric oxide bioavailability, and orchestrating SIRT1, AMPK, and NF-κB signaling to recalibrate mitochondrial function, inflammatory tone, and endothelial integrity. Within the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) paradigm, RSV exhibits reprogramming potential that attenuates the intergenerational transmission of hypertension, kidney disease, and metabolic dysfunction. Although clinical translation is constrained by limited bioavailability and rapid metabolism, advanced delivery systems and artificial intelligence-enabled optimization strategies provide promising avenues to enhance therapeutic precision and scalability. This narrative review integrates mechanistic and translational insights to position RSV as a systems-oriented life-course intervention with sustained and intergenerational relevance in CVD. Full article

Rapid digitalization and artificial intelligence are restructuring land systems by altering the functional relationship between built environments, socio-ecological processes, and territorial capital accumulation. This paper provides a conceptual and literature-based analysis of how hybrid physical–digital infrastructures are reshaping urban–rural interactions, land-use intensity, and long-term sustainability conditions. Rather than developing a fully operational measurement model, the study critically examines the limitations of aggregate productivity indicators and existing evaluation frameworks in capturing spatial reorganization processes, capital durability, and long-term dynamics. Building on insights from sustainability economics and socio-ecological systems research, the paper proposes a stock–flow interpretative perspective to better understand the interaction between physical, natural, and intangible capital within evolving land systems. The analysis focuses on three structural drivers of land system transformation: (i) the virtualization of services and the expansion of cyberspace-based infrastructures; (ii) demographic contraction and aging processes affecting land demand and settlement structures; and (iii) capital deepening in energy-intensive digital networks with implications for land–climate interactions. Within this context, particular attention is given to infrastructure life-cycle dynamics, entropy-related capital decay, and the role of artificial intelligence in reshaping labor–land relationships. The paper highlights the need for new evaluation approaches capable of distinguishing between value generated through material land transformation and value emerging from intangible and digital layers. In this sense, it aims to contribute to ongoing debates on land management and spatial planning by outlining a research agenda for the development of spatially grounded, stock–flow-based sustainability metrics. The findings suggest that future land governance and urban development strategies will need to explicitly account for hybrid spatial architectures and their long-term resource and climate implications in order to preserve territorial resilience and intergenerational equity. Full article

Adolescence represents a critical window of metabolic plasticity, during which profound hormonal, neurobiological, and physiological remodelling increases susceptibility to nutritional exposures. In parallel with the rising prevalence of obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease among young people, there is growing interest in the potential for functional food components to modulate epigenetic pathways that govern metabolic programming. This narrative review synthesises current evidence (2015–2025) from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase to elucidate how diet-derived bioactive compounds influence epigenetic regulation relevant to adipogenesis, appetite control, insulin signalling, and lipid homeostasis during adolescence. Particular emphasis is placed on molecular mechanisms, including DNA methylation changes in genes regulating adipocyte differentiation, hypothalamic neuropeptide expression, and pancreatic β-cell function; histone modifications, such as acetylation and methylation events that remodel chromatin accessibility in metabolic tissues; and modulation of microRNA networks implicated in lipid metabolism, inflammatory signalling, and insulin secretion. Furthermore, the review examines the interplay between diet, the gut microbiota, and the epigenome, highlighting the role of microbially derived short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) as endogenous histone deacetylase inhibitors and mediators of epigenetic remodelling in adipose tissue. By linking these mechanisms to specific functional food components, including polyphenols, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, fermentable dietary fibre, and other bioactive molecules, we demonstrate how nutritional signals can counteract maladaptive metabolic trajectories and potentially reduce the intergenerational transmission of metabolic risk. A deeper understanding of these epigenetic effects provides the foundation for developing personalised nutrition strategies aimed at preventing metabolic disorders from emerging during adolescence and beyond. Full article

Maladaptive family interaction is one of the mechanisms through which trauma is transmitted across generations. The current intervention approach for trauma-affected families focuses on traumatized parents and child–parent dyads during childhood. This leaves a gap in how adult children, who might no longer live with their parents, can overcome the negative impacts of maladaptive childhood interactions with parents as a legacy of parental trauma history. This study focuses on the children of Vietnamese boat refugees in their 30s and 40s in two cities in Norway, applying narrative interviews to elicit long narratives about their lifespan experiences. A hybrid analytic approach utilizes Thematic Network Analysis, informed by a conceptual framework integrating salutogenesis theory and Bowen family systems theory. The findings reveal that maladaptive parent–child interactions in Vietnamese boat refugee families include parents’ high expectations, harsh parenting, children’s obligation to please parents, and adultification, which are trauma-shaped and mediated by Vietnamese culture. Developing a strong sense of coherence (SOC), characterized by enhancing one’s understanding of the self in relation to family, making meaning regarding the past, and playing an active role in reframing relationships with one’s parents, serves as a pathway to outgrow the impacts of maladaptive patterns in one’s family of origin. Overall, this paper contributes a salutogenic, lifespan-oriented framework for understanding recovery beyond childhood impacts of intergenerational trauma. Full article

This study examines how rural Indonesian women entrepreneurs navigate the gendered structures and institutional barriers that shape their entrepreneurial experiences. Grounded in the Gender and Development (GAD) framework, the research employs a qualitative, interpretive design and draws on 22 semi-structured interviews with women entrepreneurs from diverse regions and sectors. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns of constraint, agency, and transformation within women’s narratives. Findings reveal that patriarchal norms and time poverty continue to restrict women’s visibility and resource access. Nevertheless, they exercise negotiated agency through adaptive strategies such as front-stage/back-stage role division, emotional resilience, and collective peer support. Over time, these adaptive behaviors evolve into transformative practices, such as digital market-making, gender-conscious leadership, and intergenerational empowerment, that challenge structural inequalities from within. The study refines GAD theory by conceptualizing empowerment as cyclical and context-embedded, rather than linear or absolute. Policy implications emphasize reforms linking inclusion to transformation through childcare-linked training, collateral access, digital literacy, and institutional support for women’s networks. Overall, entrepreneurship emerges as both a livelihood strategy and a transformative social practice redefining gender relations in Indonesia. Full article

Accumulating evidence recognizes cardiovascular–kidney–metabolic syndrome (CKMS) as a life-course disorder arising from dynamic and maladaptive interactions among the heart, vasculature, kidneys, liver, and pancreas. Beyond a late-onset clinical entity, CKMS susceptibility is increasingly understood to be programmed during critical developmental periods. Redox imbalance has emerged as a central integrative mechanism in this process, functioning as a mechanistic interface through which adverse early-life environments translate into persistent multi-organ vulnerability. Perturbation of the reactive oxygen species–nitric oxide axis during development disrupts organogenesis, vascular maturation, and metabolic regulation, resulting in enduring structural and functional alterations that predispose individuals to hypertension, metabolic dysfunction, and chronic kidney disease. These insights position redox biology not merely as a pathogenic mechanism but as a strategic entry point for precision intervention. Addressing the escalating global burden of CKMS requires a paradigm shift toward redox-driven precision medicine. This framework integrates biologically informed phenotyping, life-course–based risk stratification, early precision prevention through developmental reprogramming, and phenotype-guided therapeutics to stabilize interconnected organ networks. Transitioning from reactive, fragmented care to a proactive, systems-oriented approach offers a transformative opportunity to interrupt intergenerational risk transmission and achieve durable improvements in cardiovascular–kidney–metabolic health across the lifespan. Full article

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by a self-perpetuating vicious cycle between insulin resistance (IR) and hyperandrogenism (HA). While lifestyle management remains the internationally recommended first-line treatment, current clinical management, primarily relying on combined oral contraceptives and metformin, offers symptomatic relief or “masking” of the phenotype but fails to adequately disrupt this core pathophysiological loop, while also carrying potential intergenerational safety concerns. This review systematically evaluates the paradigm shift toward mechanism-based precision medicine. First, we analyze emerging precision-targeted therapies that intervene in specific pathological nodes: (1) metabolic regulators (e.g., GLP-1RAs, SGLT2i, and brown adipose tissue (BAT) activators) that target systemic glucotoxicity and the novel “BAT-Ovarian axis”; (2) neuroendocrine modulators (e.g., NK3R antagonists) that act as negative modulators of the hyperactive GnRH pulse generator; and (3) innovative androgen synthesis inhibitors (e.g., Artemisinins) that utilize a degradation-at-source mechanism. Complementing these, we explore the strategic value of Natural Products through the lens of “Network Pharmacology”, highlighting their ability to restore systemic homeostasis via multi-target modulation. Finally, we address critical translational challenges, specifically the need to establish long-term reproductive and offspring safety, providing a roadmap for developing true disease-modifying treatments for PCOS. Distinct from reviews limited to isolated therapeutic modalities, this article uniquely bridges current clinical management with emerging organ-specific precision targets and natural product networks. Full article

First Nations children remain dramatically over-represented in Australia’s Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) system, particularly in New South Wales (NSW), which continues to report the highest numbers nationally. This narrative review, grounded in a relational First Nations Standpoint Theory and decolonising research paradigms, to critically examine the systemic, structural, and historical factors contributing to these disproportionalities. Drawing on interdisciplinary evidence across law, criminology, education, health, governance studies, and public policy, the analysis centres Indigenous-authored scholarship and contemporary empirical literature, including grey literature, inquiries, and community-led reports. Findings reveal that the OOHC system reproduces the colonial logics that historically drove the Stolen Generations. Macro-level structural drivers—including systemic racism, Indigenous data injustice, entrenched poverty and deprivation, intergenerational trauma, and Westernised governance frameworks—continue to shape child protection policies and practices. Micro-level drivers such as parental supports, mental health distress, substance misuse, family violence, and the criminalisation of children in care (“crossover children”) must be understood as direct consequences of structural inequality rather than as isolated individual risk factors. Current placement and permanency orders in NSW further compound cultural disconnection, with ongoing failures to implement the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP). Contemporary cultural rights and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) frameworks highlight the urgency of restoring Indigenous authority in decision-making processes. The literature consistently demonstrates that cultural continuity, kinship networks, and ACCO-led models are sort to produce stronger long-term outcomes for children. The review concludes that genuine transformation requires a systemic shift toward Indigenous-led governance, community-controlled service delivery, data sovereignty, and legislative reform that embeds cultural rights and self-determination. Without acknowledging the structural drivers and redistributing genuine power and authority, the state risks perpetuating a cycle of removal that mirrors earlier assimilationist policies. Strengthening First Peoples governance and cultural authority is therefore essential to creating pathways for First Nations children to live safely, remain connected to family and kin, and thrive in culture. Full article