Body Image and Participant Characteristics in Emerging Adults

Positive evaluations of one’s body, or positive body image, is associated with healthy outcomes. Conversely, negative evaluations of one’s body, or negative body image, is a significant risk factor for unhealthy outcomes including eating disorders. Yet, these constructs have not been explored conjointly or in individuals with self-reported levels of positive and negative body image. The goal of the current study was to examine associations among positive, negative, and average levels of body image and a set of participant characteristics including body mass index (BMI), fitness levels, psychological well-being, and attitudes/behaviors toward social media in emerging adults (N = 439). Unique to this study, only individuals with self-reported levels of positive (n = 60) and negative (n = 78) body image were included to examine positive and negative body image. Participant characteristics that contributed to body image within the negative and positive body image groups were not significant; however, factors that had the greatest contribution differed between groups. When all levels of body image among all 439 participants were examined, those with higher rates of body image were associated with higher rates of psychological well-being, higher fitness levels/attitudes toward fitness, and lower BMI. Although the effect size was small, body image levels varied by gender with females reporting lower levels of body image than males. Although speculative due to the sample size, interesting trends were observed among five gender non-conforming individuals. These individuals, when compared to males and females, reported lower mean scores on the measures of negative body image and psychological well-being. The results suggested body image is best conceptualized as distinct constructs of positive, negative, and average with varying contributing factors and should be studied as such. Future research on positive body image should include those individuals with positive body image. Similarly, research on negative body image should include those individuals with negative body image to better understand what factors contribute to these constructs and to provide targeted interventions to increase positive body image and decrease negative body image

Community Advanced Data and Research Analysis: A Mixed Methods Capstone Project

The Community Advanced Data and Research Analysis project, or CADRA, is project that houses an interdisciplinary research team located at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The vision of CADRA, as defined by its stakeholders, is to create positive community outcomes by encouraging and engaging nonprofit organizations, as well as student and professional researchers, to develop and evolve their data management practices. CADRA offers three program options including Nonprofit Audits, Program Development and Grant Writing, and Community Data Mining. The purpose of this program evaluation will be to evaluate the Community Advanced Data and Research Analysis (CADRA) Project, with a specific assessment of their access and obtainability to data in the Las Vegas community

Mothering in the Aftermath of Forced Marriage and Wartime Rape: The Complexities of Motherhood in Postwar Northern Uganda

During northern Uganda’s civil war (1986-2007), the abduction, forced marriage, and impregnation of females was a key military strategy of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA abducted an estimated sixty thousand children—30 percent of which were girls—who were used as combatants, porters, domestic workers, and were forced to marry male commanders. Roughly ten thousand of these abducted girls became pregnant from sexual violence, and gave birth to two or more children each. This paper explores the realities of mothering in the aftermath of wartime sexual violence. Drawing upon interviews with a sample of twenty-seven northern Ugandan mothers who bore children as a result of wartime rape, the paper explores the ambivalence and complexities of mothering in the postwar period—including sexual violence, pregnancy and mothering during LRA captivity, as well as stigma and rejection, and changing family structures in the postwar period. The paper highlights the ways in which war shapes and informs all aspects of mothering—both during and following the conflict—and how it alters how women come to understand their life stories as part of the motherline. We conclude with key implications for service provision and policy

Satellite-Based Drought Reporting on the Navajo Nation

The Navajo Nation (NN) is the largest reservation in the US, and faces challenges related to water management during long-term and widespread drought episodes. The Navajo Nation is a federally recognized tribe, which has boundaries within Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The Navajo Nation has a land area of over 70,000 square kilometers. The Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources (NNDWR) reports on drought and climatic conditions through the use of regional Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) values and a network of in-situ rainfall, streamflow, and climate data. However, these data sources lack the spatial detail and consistent measurements needed to provide a coherent understanding of the drought regime within the Nation's regional boundaries. This project, as part of NASA's Western Water Applications Office (WWAO), improves upon the recently developed Drought Severity Assessment Tool (DSAT) to ingest satellite-based precipitation data to generate SPI values for specific administrative boundaries within the reservation. The tool aims to: (1) generate SPI values and summary statistics for regions of interest on various timescales, (2) to visualize SPI values within a web-map application, and (3) produce maps and comparative statistical outputs in the format required for annual drought reporting. The co-development of the DSAT with NN partners is integral to increasing the sustained use of Earth Observations for water management applications. This tool will provide data to support the NN in allocation of drought contingency dollars to the regions most adversely impacted by declines in water availability

INCOG 2.0 Guidelines for Cognitive Rehabilitation Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Part III: Executive Functions

Introduction: Moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (MS-TBI) causes debilitating and enduring impairments of executive functioning and self-awareness, which clinicians often find challenging to address. Here, we provide an update to the INCOG 2014 guidelines for the clinical management of these impairments. Methods: An expert panel of clinicians/researchers (known as INCOG) reviewed evidence published from 2014 and developed updated recommendations for the management of executive functioning and self-awareness post-MS-TBI, as well as a decision-making algorithm, and an audit tool for review of clinical practice. Results: A total of 8 recommendations are provided regarding executive functioning and self-awareness. Since INCOG 2014, 4 new recommendations were made and 4 were modified and updated from previous recommendations. Six recommendations are based on level A evidence, and 2 are based on level C. Recommendations retained from the previous guidelines and updated, where new evidence was available, focus on enhancement of self-awareness (eg, feedback to increase self-monitoring; training with video-feedback), meta-cognitive strategy instruction (eg, goal management training), enhancement of reasoning skills, and group-based treatments. New recommendations addressing music therapy, virtual therapy, telerehabilitation-delivered metacognitive strategies, and caution regarding other group-based telerehabilitation (due to a lack of evidence) have been made. Conclusions: Effective management of impairments in executive functioning can increase the success and well-being of individuals with MS-TBI in their day-to-day lives. These guidelines provide management recommendations based on the latest evidence, with support for their implementation, and encourage researchers to explore and validate additional factors such as predictors of treatment response

Methamphetamine Use: A Narrative Review of Adverse Effects and Related Toxicities.

Methamphetamine has been labeled America\u27s most dangerous drug and has received significant public health attention. Stimulant addiction and tolerance are heavily documented in the literature; increasingly larger doses maintain euphoria in short time periods to withstand stimulant tolerance. Stimulant deaths are high in the United States and abroad. Between 2013 and 2019, deaths related to methamphetamine use quadrupled from 3,616 to 16,127. Methamphetamine use increased four-fold from 2015 to 2016. Due to this increase in methamphetamine use and its associated medical complications, the mortality rate associated with methamphetamine use has doubled over the past ten years. Cardiopulmonary symptoms include chest pain, palpitations, and shortness of breath. Methamphetamine-related myocardial infarction can also occur. Central nervous system symptoms include agitation, anxiety, delusions, hallucinations, and seizures. Methamphetamine-induced psychosis may unmask underlying psychiatric disorders. It can also cause cerebral vasculitis, which elicits cortical blindness and ischemic strokes. Methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity in serotonergic systems is more diffuse, involving the striatum, hippocampus, septum, amygdala, and hypothalamus leading to mood changes, psychosis, and memory impairment. This narrative review will aim to highlight the adverse effects as well as the toxicity that can occur with methamphetamine use

Potential for positive biodiversity outcomes under diet-driven land use change in Great Britain

Background: A shift toward human diets that include more fruit and vegetables, and less meat is a potential pathway to improve public health and reduce food system-related greenhouse gas emissions. Associated changes in land use could include conversion of grazing land into horticulture, which makes more efficient use of land per unit of dietary energy and frees-up land for other uses. Methods: Here we use Great Britain as a case study to estimate potential impacts on biodiversity from converting grazing land to a mixture of horticulture and natural land covers by fitting species distribution models for over 800 species, including pollinating insects and species of conservation priority. Results: Across several land use scenarios that consider the current ratio of domestic fruit and vegetable production to imports, our statistical models suggest a potential for gains to biodiversity, including a tendency for more species to gain habitable area than to lose habitable area. Moreover, the models suggest that climate change impacts on biodiversity could be mitigated to a degree by land use changes associated with dietary shifts. Conclusions: Our analysis demonstrates that options exist for changing agricultural land uses in a way that can generate win-win-win outcomes for biodiversity, adaptation to climate change and public healt

Evaluation of fluralaner and afoxolaner treatments to control flea populations, reduce pruritus and minimize dermatologic lesions in naturally infested dogs in private residences in west central Florida USA

Citation: Dryden, M. W., Canfield, M. S., Kalosy, K., Smith, A., Crevoiserat, L., McGrady, J. C., . . . Sun, F. (2016). Evaluation of fluralaner and afoxolaner treatments to control flea populations, reduce pruritus and minimize dermatologic lesions in naturally infested dogs in private residences in west central Florida USA. Parasites & Vectors, 9, 11. doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1654-7Background: A study was conducted to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of two different oral flea and tick products to control flea infestations, reduce pruritus and minimize dermatologic lesions over a 12 week period on naturally infested dogs in west central FL USA. Methods: Thirty-four dogs with natural flea infestations living in 17 homes were treated once with a fluralaner chew on study day 0. Another 27 dogs living in 17 different homes were treated orally with an afoxolaner chewable on day 0, once between days 28-30 and once again between days 54-60. All products were administered according to label directions by study investigators. Flea populations on pets were assessed using visual area counts and premise flea infestations were assessed using intermittent-light flea traps on days 0, 7, 14, 21, and once between days 28-30, 40-45, 54-60 and 82-86. Dermatologic assessments were conducted on day 0 and once monthly. Pruritus assessments were conducted by owners throughout the study. No concurrent treatments for existing skin disease (antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, anti-fungals) were allowed. Results: Following the first administration of fluralaner or afoxolaner, flea populations on pets were reduced by 99.0 % and 99.3 %, respectively within 7 days. Flea populations on the fluralaner treated dogs were 0 (100 % efficacy) on days 54-60 and 82-86 after the administration of a single dose on day 0. Administration of 3 monthly doses of afoxolaner reduced flea populations by 100 % on days 82-86. Flea numbers in indoor-premises were markedly reduced in both treatment groups by days 82-86, with 100 % and 98.9 % reductions in flea trap counts in the fluralaner and afoxolaner treatment groups, respectively. Marked improvement was observed in FAD lesion scoring, Atopic Dermatitis lesions scoring (CADESI-4) and pruritus scores with both formulations. Conclusions: In a clinical field investigation conducted during the summer of 2015 in subtropical Florida, a single administration of an oral fluralaner chew completely eliminated dog and premises flea infestations and markedly reduced dermatology lesions and pruritus. Three monthly doses of the afoxolaner chewable also eliminated flea infestations in dogs, markedly reduced premises' flea populations and similarly improved dermatology lesions and pruritus

Microbiota and host determinants of behavioural phenotype in maternally separated mice

Early-life stress is a determinant of vulnerability to a variety of disorders that include dysfunction of the brain and gut. Here we exploit a model of early-life stress, maternal separation (MS) in mice, to investigate the role of the intestinal microbiota in the development of impaired gut function and altered behaviour later in life. Using germ-free and specific pathogen-free mice, we demonstrate that MS alters the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and colonic cholinergic neural regulation in a microbiota-independent fashion. However, microbiota is required for the induction of anxiety-like behaviour and behavioural despair. Colonization of adult germ-free MS and control mice with the same microbiota produces distinct microbial profiles, which are associated with altered behaviour in MS, but not in control mice. These results indicate that MS-induced changes in host physiology lead to intestinal dysbiosis, which is a critical determinant of the abnormal behaviour that characterizes this model of early-life stress

Decreases in Dietary Glycemic Index Are Related to Weight Loss among Individuals following Therapeutic Diets for Type 2 Diabetes

This study assessed the effect of changes in glycemic index (GI) and load (GL) on weight loss and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) among individuals with type 2 diabetes beginning a vegan diet or diet following the 2003 American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommendations. The study was a 22-wk, randomized trial of 99 participants with type 2 diabetes who were counseled to follow 1 of 2 diet treatments. GI and GL changes were assessed based on 3-d dietary records. The relationships between GI/GL and changes in weight and HbA1C were calculated. In an intention-to-treat analysis (n = 99), the vegan group reduced GI to a greater extent than the ADA group (P < 0.05), but GL was reduced further in the ADA than the vegan group (P < 0.001). GI predicted changes in weight (P = 0.001), adjusting for changes in fiber, carbohydrate, fat, alcohol, energy intake, steps per day, group, and demographics, such that for every point decrease in GI, participants lost ~0.2 kg (0.44 lb). GI was not a predictor for changes in HbA1C after controlling for weight loss (P = 0.33). Weight loss was a predictor of changes in HbA1C (P = 0.047). GL was not related to weight loss or changes in HbA1C. A low-GI diet appears to be one of the determinants of success of a vegan or ADA diet in reducing body weight among people with type 2 diabetes. The reduction of body weight, in turn, was predictive of decreasing HbA1C