Women's experiences of body image and baby feeding choices: Dealing with the pressure to be slender

This qualitative study was designed to assess postpartum women's body image in relation to feeding choices. Forty women aged 20–42 years, up to 3 years postpartum were interviewed through email. Participants were allocated to three groups; currently breastfeeding, former breastfeeding, or bottle-feeding. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, which revealed three key themes: attitude transition, celebrity comparisons, and emotional reactions to celebrity mothers. Analysis suggested that women with experience of breastfeeding viewed their body more functionally, which created feelings of appreciation and acceptance towards their bodies. The findings suggest that although breastfeeding does not necessarily protect women from body concerns and pressure for thinness, it allows women to see their body as an ‘instrument’ rather than an aesthetic ‘object’. Further research is required to confirm or challenge the current findings

The 'new majority' and the academization of journalism

The academization of journalism is reliant on the development of the field founded in scholarship demonstrated through the publication of research in peer-reviewed specialist journals. Given the profile of journalism faculty, this means inducting practitioners into a culture of critical research. In Australia at least, this cohort of neophytes is predominantly comprised of middle-aged women who were surveyed about their personal attitudes to research. They were mostly open to the idea of becoming researchers but were inclined to proceed cautiously without necessarily severing their ties with practice. There was evidence to suggest that a generally positive orientation to research was not capitalized on and that they remained uncertain about the role of research. On the other hand, they appeared not to have adopted the orthodoxy of implacable opposition to scholarly inquiry. The change in gender composition in the academy may provide, contrary to historical, but more in line with contemporary, evidence, a renewed impetus to the project of academizing the field

Social navigation

In this chapter we present one of the pioneer approaches in supporting users in navigating the complex information spaces, social navigation support. Social navigation support is inspired by natural tendencies of individuals to follow traces of each other in exploring the world, especially when dealing with uncertainties. In this chapter, we cover details on various approaches in implementing social navigation support in the information space as we also connect the concept to supporting theories. The first part of this chapter reviews related theories and introduces the design space of social navigation support through a series of example applications. The second part of the chapter discusses the common challenges in design and implementation of social navigation support, demonstrates how these challenges have been addressed, and reviews more recent direction of social navigation support. Furthermore, as social navigation support has been an inspirational approach to various other social information access approaches we discuss how social navigation support can be integrated with those approaches. We conclude with a review of evaluation methods for social navigation support and remarks about its current state

Neurexins and Neuroligins: Recent Insights from Invertebrates

During brain development, each neuron must find and synapse with the correct pre- and postsynaptic partners. The complexity of these connections and the relatively large distances some neurons must send their axons to find the correct partners makes studying brain development one of the most challenging, and yet fascinating disciplines in biology. Furthermore, once the initial connections have been made, the neurons constantly remodel their dendritic and axonal arbours in response to changing demands. Neurexin and neuroligin are two cell adhesion molecules identified as important regulators of this process. The importance of these genes in the development and modulation of synaptic connectivity is emphasised by the observation that mutations in these genes in humans have been associated with cognitive disorders such as Autism spectrum disorders, Tourette syndrome and Schizophrenia. The present review will discuss recent advances in our understanding of the role of these genes in synaptic development and modulation, and in particular, we will focus on recent work in invertebrate models, and how these results relate to studies in mammals

Use of biofunctional prosthetic system following partial maxillary resection: a clinical report

This clinical report describes the prosthodontic rehabilitation of an edentulous patient with a maxillary defect using the biofunctional prosthetic system. The Biofunctional Prosthetic System brand denture includes a comprehensive technique for impressions, record taking, tooth placement, fabrication and processing. The advantage of this technique is to provide patients with optimal form, function, and aesthetics in complete dentures. This system is based on a team effort and systematic approach to removable prosthetic treatment. © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd