Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset - with data collected between 2020 and 2022 - to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that full scalar invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional BAS-2 model has widespread applicability. There were large differences across nations and languages in latent body appreciation, while differences across gender identities and age groups were negligible-to-small. Additionally, greater body appreciation was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, being single (versus being married or in a committed relationship), and greater rurality (versus urbanicity). Across a subset of nations where nation-level data were available, greater body appreciation was also significantly associated with greater cultural distance from the United States and greater relative income inequality. These findings suggest that the BAS-2 likely captures a near-universal conceptualisation of the body appreciation construct, which should facilitate further cross-cultural research

Nucleotide sequence analysis of an Andean potato mottle virus middle component RNA cDNA clone: comparisons of the encoded proteins with those of other comoviruses

Andean potato mottle virus (APMV) is a comovirus whose genomic structure consists of two plus-strand RNA molecules (M- and B-RNA). Here we report the nucleotide sequence analysis of an APMV M-RNA cDNA done with 3,669 nucleotide (nt) residues, exclusive of the polyadenylate at the 3' end, covering approximately 99% of the APMV M-RNA. The first initiation codon in register translates from nt 194 to 3185 a polyprotein of 997 amino acid (aa) residues. A second initiation codon in register, beginning at nt position 416, translates a polyprotein of 923 aa. The cleavage sites used in the processing of polyprotein were identified in the long open reading frame by N-terminal microsequencing of the large coat protein (LCP) and the small coat protein (SCP). These dipeptide cleavage sites are Q/M for the LCP and Q/F for the SCP. In a comparison of the deduced APMV polyprotein aa sequence with those of four other comoviruses, the coding regions for the putative movement protein, LCP and SCP, were found similar in length in all five species. Multiple alignment of the M-RNA sequences for each of the three genes from the five comoviruses revealed different degrees of homology. APMV was always the least homologous of the five comoviruses, showing significant aa substitutions in positions where the other comoviruses have identical residue or conservative substitutions

The Amazonia Variant of Vibrio cholerae: Molecular Identification and Study of Virulence Genes

The pathogenic O1 Amazonia variant of Vibrio cholerae has been shown previously to have a cytotoxin acting on cultured Vero and Y-1 cells, and to lack important virulence factors such as the cholera toxin (Coelho et al. 1995a). This study extends the molecular analysis of the Amazonia strains, detecting the presence of the toxR gene, with a very similar sequence to that of the El Tor and classical biotypes. The outer membrane proteins are analyzed, detecting a variation among the group of Amazonia strains, with three different patterns found. As a by-product of this work a polymerase chain reaction fragment was sequenced, reading part of the sequence of the Lon protease of the Amazonia strains. This gene was not previously described in V. cholerae, but its sequence is present in the TIGR database specific for this species

Co-infecção HIV/HCV em pacientes de Botucatu e região HIV/HCV co-infection in patients from Botucatu and region (Brazilian cities)

Devido à similaridade nas rotas de transmissão, a co-infecção HIV/HCV é freqüente, afetando em média 30 a 50% dos portadores de HIV. O presente estudo visou avaliar uma possível associação entre os subtipos do HIV e genótipos do HCV em pacientes co-infectados, com base na análise das freqüências em pacientes mono e co-infectados. Para determinação da freqüência dos subtipos HIV e genótipos HCV, foram analisados respectivamente 124 e 496 pacientes mono-infectados. O estudo da co-infecção foi realizado num grupo de 150 pacientes HIV positivos e esteve presente em 22 (14,7%) dos pacientes. A freqüência dos subtipos do HIV-1 em mono-infectados foi: subtipo B (85,5%), subtipo F (12,9%) e recombinante B/F (1,6%), enquanto nos genótipos HCV foi: 1a (25%), 1b (29,4%), 1a/1b (3,6%), 3a (35%), 2 (1,8%) e 5 (0,4%). Nos co-infectados o padrão de distribuição dos subtipos HIV-1 é semelhante aos mono-infectados, ou seja, subtipo B (85,0%), seguido do subtipo F (15,0%). A distribuição de freqüência de genótipos HCV nos co-infectados foi: 1a (36,3%), 1b (27,3%), 1a/1b (9,1%) e 3a (27,3%) mostrando um aumento de 10% na freqüência do genótipo 1, queda de 7,7% no genótipo 3 e ausência de outros genótipos. A análise estatística de associação entre os subtipos HIV e genótipos HCV (Goodman) mostrou que no genótipo 1 (HCV) ocorreu predominância do subtipo B, enquanto no genótipo 3 (HCV) a distribuição dos subtipos B e F (HIV-1) foi casual. Isto aponta para a necessidade de mais estudos desse grupo e um maior valor amostral.<br>HIV/HCV co-infection is a frequent event due to the similarity of the means of transmission of both viruses; 30-50% of HIV infected individuals are co-infected¹. This paper assesses the possible association among HCV and HIV genotypes in co-infected patients based on frequency distribution in mono and co-infected patients. To determine HIV and HCV genotype frequency 124 and 496 respectively, mono infected patients were analyzed. The study of co-infection was performed in 150 HIV positive patients and 22 (14.7%) patients were found. The frequency of HIV-1 subtypes was 106 B subtype (85.5%), 16 F (12.9%), and 2 B/F recombinant (1.6%); HCV genotypes were 1a (25%), 1b (29.4%), 1a/1b (3.6%), 3a (35%), 2 (1.8%) and 5 (0.4%). The HCV genotype could not be determined in 6.3% of samples using the technique. The HIV-1 subtype distribution standard was B subtype (85.0%) and F subtype (15.0%) in mono-infected as in co-infected. The frequency distribution of HCV genotypes in co-infected was 1a (36.4%), 1b (27.3%), 1a/1b (9.1%) and 3a (27.3%). These results showed a 10% increase in frequency of 1a genotype, 7.7% decrease in 3 genotype and lack of other genotypes. The statistical analysis of association of HCV genotypes and HIV-1 subtypes (Goodman Test) showed a predominance of the B HIV subtype among HCV genotype 1, and among HCV genotype 3 the distribution of B and F HIV subtypes was casual. These results suggest the need for further studies in this group and larger samples