Age, puberty and attractiveness judgments in adolescents

Previous work has suggested that judgments of the attractiveness of some facial and vocal features change during adolescence. Here, over 70 Czech adolescents aged 12–14 made forced-choice attractivenessjudgments on adolescent faces manipulated in symmetry, averageness and femininity, and on adolescent opposite-sex voices manipulated in fundamental frequency (perceived as pitch), and completed questionnaires on pubertal development. Consistent with typical adult judgments, adolescents selected the symmetric, average and feminine male and female faces as more attractive significantly more often than the asymmetric, non-average and masculine faces respectively. Moreover, preferences for symmetric faces were positively associated with adolescents’ age and stage of pubertal development. Unexpectedly, voice pitch did not significantly influence adolescents’ attractivenessjudgments. Collectively, these findings present new evidence using refined methodology that adolescent development is related to variation in attractivenessjudgments

Adolescents' views of food and eating: Identifying barriers to healthy eating

This is a postprint version of the article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - © 2006 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents Published by Elsevier Ltd.Contemporary Western society has encouraged an obesogenic culture of eating amongst youth. Multiple factors may influence an adolescent's susceptibility to this eating culture, and thus act as a barrier to healthy eating. Given the increasing prevalence of obesity amongst adolescents, the need to reduce these barriers has become a necessity. Twelve focus group discussions of single-sex groups of boys or girls ranging from early to-mid adolescence (N = 73) were employed to identify key perceptions of, and influences upon, healthy eating behaviour. Thematic analysis identified four key factors as barriers to healthy eating. These factors were: physical and psychological reinforcement of eating behaviour; perceptions of food and eating behaviour; perceptions of contradictory food-related social pressures; Q perceptions of the concept of healthy eating itself. Overall, healthy eating as a goal in its own right is notably absent from the data and would appear to be elided by competing pressures to eat unhealthily and to lose weight. This insight should inform the development of future food-related communications to adolescents. (c) 2006 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents.Funding from Safefood: the food safety promotion board is acknowledged

The cost-effectiveness of wound-edge protection devices compared to standard care in reducing surgical site infection after laparotomy: an economic evaluation alongside the ROSSINI trial.

BACKGROUND: Wound-edge protection devices (WEPDs) have been used in surgery for more than 40 years to reduce surgical site infection (SSI). No economic evaluation of WEPDs against any comparator has ever been conducted. The aim of the paper was to assess whether WEPDs are cost-effective in reducing SSI compared to standard care alone in the United Kingdom. METHODS AND FINDINGS: An economic evaluation was conducted alongside the ROSSINI trial. The study perspective was that of the UK National Health Service and the time horizon was 30 days post-operatively. The study was conducted in 21 UK hospitals. 760 patients undergoing laparotomy were randomised to either WEPD or standard care and 735 were included in the primary analysis. The main economic outcome was cost-effectiveness based on incremental cost (£) per quality adjusted life year (QALY) gained. Patients in the WEPD arm accessed health care worth £5,420 on average and gained 0.02131 QALYs, compared to £5,130 and 0.02133 QALYs gained in the standard care arm. The WEPD strategy was more costly and equally effective compared to standard care, but there was significant uncertainty around incremental costs and QALYs. The findings were robust to a range of sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS: There is no evidence to suggest that WEPDs can be considered a cost effective device to reduce SSI. Their continued use is a waste of limited health care resources

Spectral method for the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a harmonic trap

We study the numerical resolution of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, a non-linear Schroedinger equation used to simulate the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates. Considering condensates trapped in harmonic potentials, we present an efficient algorithm by making use of a spectral Galerkin method, using a basis set of harmonic oscillator functions, and the Gauss-Hermite quadrature. We apply this algorithm to the simulation of condensate breathing and scissors modes.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure

Intramolecular epoxide ring opening cyclisation reactions involving guanidines

The cyclisation of N-allyl- and N-homoallylguanidines using DMDO leading to the formation of novel 5- and 6-membered guanidine heterocycles is reported. Several of the products formed displayed weak inhibition of glycosidase enzymes

Erratum to 'Exploring the cost-effectiveness of high versus low perioperative fraction of inspired oxygen in the prevention of surgical site infections among abdominal surgery patients in three low- and middle-income countries' [BJA Open 7 (2023) 100207]

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.bjao.2023.100207.].</p

The impact of preoperative oral nutrition supplementation on outcomes in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery for cancer in low- and middle-income countries:a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Malnutrition is an independent predictor for postoperative complications in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We systematically reviewed evidence on the impact of preoperative oral nutrition supplementation (ONS) on patients undergoing gastrointestinal cancer surgery in LMICs. We searched EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, WHO Global Index Medicus, SciELO, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS) databases from inception to March 21, 2022 for randomised controlled trials evaluating preoperative ONS in gastrointestinal cancer within LMICs. We evaluated the impact of ONS on all postoperative outcomes using random-effects meta-analysis. Seven studies reported on 891 patients (446 ONS group, 445 control group) undergoing surgery for gastrointestinal cancer. Preoperative ONS reduced all cause postoperative surgical complications (risk ratio (RR) 0.53, 95% CI 0.46–0.60, P < 0.001, I 2 = 0%, n = 891), infection (0.52, 0.40–0.67, P = 0.008, I 2 = 0%, n = 570) and all-cause mortality (0.35, 0.26–0.47, P = 0.014, I 2 = 0%, n = 588). Despite heterogeneous populations and baseline rates, absolute risk ratio (ARR) was reduced for all cause (pooled effect −0.14, −0.22 to −0.06, P = 0.006; number needed to treat (NNT) 7) and infectious complications (−0.13, −0.22 to −0.06, P < 0.001; NNT 8). Preoperative nutrition in patients undergoing gastrointestinal cancer surgery in LMICs demonstrated consistently strong and robust treatment effects across measured outcomes. However additional higher quality research, with particular focus within African populations, are urgently required

Facial appearance affects voting decisions

Human groups are unusual among primates in that our leaders are often 5 democratically selected. Many social judgements are made using only facial 6 information and here we examined the potential influence of facial perceptions 7 on leadership elections. We address this possibility using a case study of the 8 2004 US presidential candidates George Bush and John Kerry. We removed 9 recognition effects by applying the difference between their faces to a neutral, 10 unfamiliar face, and then measured how the difference in their facial 11 physiognomies influenced attributions and hypothetical voting decisions. The 12 ‘plus-Bush’ and ‘plus-Kerry’ faces were seen to possess different but 13 potentially valued leadership traits. For voting, preference for face version was 14 context-dependent. Raters preferred the plus-Bush face as a war-time leader 15 and the plus-Kerry face as a peace-time leader. We also examined voting to 16 computer graphic manipulations of masculinity showing that masculine faces 17 were voted for more in war-time and feminine faces in peace-time contexts, 18 suggesting that attitudes to sexual dimorphism in faces play an important role 19 in voting decisions. Both findings demonstrate that voter’s attitudes to the 20 physical appearance of politicians may interact with their perceptions of the 21 current political climate to determine voting behaviour. Such flexible 22 leadership choice may reflect the selection of leaders who are most beneficial 23 to the individuals of a group at a particular time or in a particular situation