Early-life nutrition shapes lifelong health, yet the long-term consequences of childhood overnutrition, particularly on musculoskeletal aging, remain unclear. Here, we show that neonatal overfeeding acts as a developmental insult that accelerates age-related sarcopenia in both sexes. Using different mouse models, early overnutrition shortens lifespan and exacerbates late-life muscle atrophy, accompanied by metabolic dysfunction. Mechanistically, neonatal overfeeding disrupts goblet cell development, leading to persistent mucus barrier defects and consequently reduced Akkermansia muciniphila (A. muciniphila) colonization during aging. Fecal microbiota transplantation transfers the sarcopenic phenotype, implicating gut dysbiosis in disease propagation. Loss of A. muciniphila reduces acetate production, impairs muscle mitochondrial function at least in part via suppressed GPR43 signaling, and aggravates sarcopenia. Conversely, A. muciniphila reconstitution or acetate supplementation restores mitochondrial homeostasis and improves muscle performance in aged mice. These findings reveal a developmental origin of age-related sarcopenia and define a gut-muscle axis linking early-life overnutrition to muscle aging, highlighting the preventive potential of optimizing early nutrition to support healthy aging. Here, the authors demonstrate that neonatal overfeeding in mice shortens lifespan and accelerates late-life muscle loss. This originates from persistent gut mucus defects and depleted Akkermansia muciniphila, revealing a targetable developmental origin for sarcopenia.
International migration from Nepal has important implications for older parents who remain at home. While remittances can improve household financial conditions, older parents may also experience changes in physical assistance, emotional well-being, family relationships, and access to health services. This article presents a narrative review of empirical research, demographic census data, legislation, and policy frameworks to examine these dimensions of well-being among older parents affected by migration. The analysis is guided by the life course perspective, intergenerational solidarity theory, transnational care circulation, and the relational model of well-being. The findings indicate that financial support can contribute to household well-being but cannot fully replace physical presence and everyday assistance. The review also identifies gaps in coordination between migration policies and policies for older people, particularly where family care arrangements change following adult children’s migration. The article highlights the role of social work in individual assessment, community-based case management, and policy practice at the local, provincial, and federal levels. Strengthening professional social work services and connecting migration policies to social protection for older people can help improve access to services and respond to the changing needs of older parents in Nepal.
Introduction Maternal nutrition is fundamental to the health of mothers and children. Over the years, the Indian government introduced several programs and policies to support women’s nutrition during pregnancy and improve maternal and child health outcomes. However, significant contextual differences remain in service provisions and access across states. This study explores expert perspectives on factors that impact the implementation and reach of maternal nutrition services in India. Methods The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase consisted of contextual mapping through desk review of policy documents, government reports, published literature, and descriptive secondary data from NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 to map maternal nutrition indicators and provide contextual evidence. In the second phase, fifteen national- and state-level experts from across policy, implementation, and research fields were purposively selected for semi-structured interviews. Following this, interviews were transcribed, coded and analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis. Results The desk review indicated that maternal nutrition programs in India are implemented through multiple local and centralized institutions and show substantial variation across states. State-specific initiatives to strengthen maternal nutrition were identified in 35 of the 36 Indian states and union territories. Qualitative findings complemented the desk review. Thematic analysis of expert interviews indicated that despite numerous maternal nutrition programmes in effect in India, effective implementation was constrained by three interconnected mechanisms: weak governance and health system capacity to translate policy into consistent frontline practice; fragmented monitoring systems that limit routine, data-driven course correction; and sociocultural norms that impact household decision-making and the reach and acceptability of maternal nutrition services. Discussion Experts emphasized that strengthening implementation within existing government programmes, rather than introducing additional schemes, is central to improving maternal nutrition services and, ultimately, maternal health outcomes in India.
Sukirti Chandra, Avilasha Ghosh, Himani Sharma et al.
Music is affirmed as an entitlement across the European Union, yet what children receive varies with the resources their schools and regions can command. This paper applies Universal Design for Learning at a level where it is rarely employed: not the individual lesson, but the statutory curricular minimum itself. Taking Spain as a case study, it examines what minimum of musical participation a state could guarantee in a form from which no school and no learner could be excluded. Joining universal design with the capability approach, the article argues that such a minimum must be defined as a capability rather than as a resource and specified in competencies rather than materials or gestures. It proposes an instrument-independent curricular floor: a legally protected minimum of rhythmic, ensemble-based and improvisatory participation achievable with the body and voice alone, complementary to instrumental provision and never a substitute for it. Body percussion serves as the analytical test case rather than as the content of the entitlement. The article presents a normative and doctrinal analysis, not an empirical evaluation. It advances a central hypothesis and four derived propositions, states the observations that would confirm or disconfirm each, and specifies the research programme required to test them. Its principal claim is conditional and structural: the current architecture permits variation in what children receive, an entitlement defined in capability terms would remove one mechanism through which that variation operates, and whether it does so in practice is a question for empirical evaluation rather than for theoretical argument.
This study aimed to determine the impact of a peer educator program focused on reproductive health for the prevention of child marriage at SMA Negeri 13 Makassar. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a control group was employed. The sample consisted of 70 respondents—divided into an intervention group (n=35) and a control group (n=35)—selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected via questionnaires covering information, knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and child marriage prevention. Data analysis involved the Paired Sample t-test to compare pretest and posttest scores, and the Mann–Whitney U test to compare gain scores between the two groups. The results indicated changes in scores before and after the intervention according to the Paired Sample t-test. However, the Mann–Whitney U test revealed no significant difference in the improvement (gain score) between the intervention and control groups regarding information (p=0.166), knowledge (p=0.075), attitudes (p=0.265), behaviors (p=0.552), and child marriage prevention (p=0.591). Conclusion: While the peer educator program resulted in score changes before and after the intervention, there was no significant difference in the magnitude of improvement between the intervention and control groups.
The study's significance lies in shedding light on the Impact of a Structured Sensory Diet on Neural Regulation of Attention and Task Engagement in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This study holds substantial significance for both scientific understanding and practical intervention in supporting children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Many children with ASD experience sensory processing difficulties that directly influence their ability to regulate attention, engage in tasks, and participate meaningfully in learning environments. Although sensory diets are widely used in therapeutic and educational settings, there remains limited empirical evidence—especially neurocognitive evidence— demonstrating how structured sensory input influences neural regulation and behavioral functioning.
Children who are developmentally lagging require quick and tailored supports- this is why focusing on potential development is important. AI has advanced by integrating multiple forms of speech, behaviour, physiology, and vision, and emerging AI systems for speech triage and multi-modal systems are demonstrating promise for comprehensive pediatric assessment. This literature review examines the most recent XAI approaches and applications to developmental screening and assessment of learning and development from 2016-2025. Under the PRISMA model, 34 studies were selected that involve data fusion, explainable AI, and stakeholder-driven explainable AI. The review explores various AI model approaches, data fusion, explainable AI, and evaluation with explainable AI trust, ethical, bias, and generalization frameworks. Survey results of the various frameworks show that XAI approaches and selected strikingly high attribution approaches of clinician educator explanation dominated stakeholder-controlled assessment and understanding and maintained high diagnostic and predictive accuracy levels. The issues of availability and sustaining longitudinal studies and accountability for cultural and demographic bias are persistent. This review suggests discussing adaptive and transparent AI systems that are equitable, scalable, and reliable. This synthesis aids the creation of efficient and useful AI technologies for fair access to early childhood assessment and intervention tools.
Background Intimate partner controlling behavior (IPCB) is a key manifestation of coercive control and an important precursor to other forms of intimate partner violence. Despite its adverse consequences for women’s autonomy, mental health, and well-being, evidence on the prevalence and factors associated with IPCB in Somaliland remains limited. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence and identify the individual- and community-level factors associated with IPCB among ever-married women in Somaliland. Methods A secondary analysis of the 2020 Somaliland Demographic and Health Survey (SLDHS) was conducted using a weighted sample of 9,428.14 (unweighted n = 9,593) ever-married women aged 15–49 years. IPCB was defined as experiencing at least one of five partner controlling behaviors reported for the respondent’s current husband/partner. Multilevel logistic regression models, incorporating the DHS sample weight (V005) and clustering by primary sampling unit (135 clusters), were fitted to account for the hierarchical structure of the survey data and to identify factors associated with IPCB. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported, and statistical significance was declared at p < 0.05. Results The prevalence of IPCB was 26.7% (95% CI: 25.8–27.6%; unweighted prevalence 25.1%). Women aged 25–29 years (AOR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.01–2.53), those with primary education (AOR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.44–2.00), and women from middle- (AOR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.20–1.77) and rich-wealth households (AOR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.30–1.88) had higher odds of experiencing IPCB. Conversely, joint healthcare decision-making (AOR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.60–0.79), current pregnancy (AOR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.63–0.85), marriage at ages 19–26 years (AOR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.63–0.80) or >26 years (AOR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.49–0.81), household size of 4–7 members (AOR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.71–0.92), partner employment (AOR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.68–0.87), and residence in Marodijeh, Togdheer, Sool, and Sanaag regions were associated with lower odds of IPCB. Conclusion Approximately one in four ever-married women in Somaliland experienced intimate partner controlling behavior, underscoring IPCB as an important public health and gender equality concern. Both individual- and community-level factors were significantly associated with women’s odds of experiencing IPCB, highlighting the need for multilevel interventions that strengthen women’s decision-making autonomy, delay early marriage, promote girls’ education, and implement context-specific strategies to prevent coercive control and advance gender equality.
The article presents an overview of the problems of child violence, a wide range of its variants-physical, sexual and psychological violence, etc. It is shown that child violence has the quality of transgeneration, in one form or another, is reproduced in the next generations. The experience of violence is also a negative predictor of violent behavior that will manifest itself in the upbringing of their own children. Indicators of the epidemiology of violence are presented. The data vary greatly, for example, the prevalence of sexual violence ranges from 3% to 36%. Sexual violence mainly affects children between the ages of 6 and 13. Children under the age of 4 are most likely to suffer from physical and psychological abuse. Up to a third of victims of sexual violence may show appropriate behavior towards their own or other children. An overview of the factors that predispose / retard the formation of child violence is presented. These are factors such as age, gender, ethnic origin, disability, and social status of the parents. Prevention work should be based on a multi-level concept (multiple participants or institutions are involved). Appropriate measures to prevent violence should not (cannot) only target children / young people, but should also affect, in particular, parents and schools.
This article addresses topical issues of protection of children from domestic violence in the national legal system. Special attention is paid to the forms of domestic violence, protection of the rights and freedoms of victims.
