Journal of religion and health
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Meta Analysis
Does Ramadan fasting alter body weight and blood lipids and fasting blood glucose in a healthy population? A meta-analysis.
In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis of self-controlled cohort studies comparing body weights, blood levels of lipids and fasting blood glucose levels before and after Ramadan taking into account gender differences. Several databases were searched up to June 2012 for studies showing an effect of Ramadan fasting in healthy subjects, yielding 30 articles. The primary finding of this meta-analysis was that after Ramadan fasting, low-density lipoprotein (SMD = -1.67, 95 % CI = -2.48 to -0.86) and fasting blood glucose levels (SMD = -1.10, 95 % CI = -1.62 to -0.58) were decreased in both sex groups and also in the entire group compared to levels prior to Ramadan. ⋯ In males, Ramadan fasting resulted in weight loss (SMD = -0.24, 95 % CI = -0.36, -0.12, p = 0.001). Also, a substantial reduction in total cholesterol (SMD = -0.44, 95 % CI = -0.77 to -0.11) and LDL levels (SMD = -2.22, 95 % CI = -3.47 to -0.96) and a small decrease in triglyceride levels (SMD = -0.35, 95 % CI = -0.67 to -0.02) were observed in males. In conclusion, by looking at this data, it is evident that Ramadan fasting can effectively change body weight and some biochemical parameters in healthy subjects especially in males compared to pre-Ramadan period.
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Congruence in spirituality between HIV+ adolescent (n = 40)/family (n = 40) dyads and psychological adjustment and quality of life were assessed, using the Spiritual Well-Being Scale of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Beck Anxiety Inventory and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory at baseline and 3-month post-intervention. Adolescents were 60 % female and 92 % African American. Congruence in spirituality between adolescent/surrogate dyads remained unchanged at 3 months. High congruence existed for "having a reason for living"; rejection of "life lacks meaning/purpose" and "HIV is a punishment from God." Adolescents were less likely to forgive the harm others caused them than their families.
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Measuring spiritual well-being among clergy is particularly important given the high relevance of God to their lives, and yet its measurement is prone to problems such as ceiling effects and conflating religious behaviors with spiritual well-being. To create a measure of closeness to God for Christian clergy, we tested survey items at two time points with 1,513 United Methodist Church clergy. ⋯ The data supported the predictive and concurrent validity of the two factors and evidenced high reliabilities without ceiling effects. This Clergy Spiritual Well-being Scale may be useful to elucidate the relationship among dimensions of health and well-being in clergy populations.