Fashionably Voluptuous: Repackaging the Fuller-Sized Figure

This article investigates the voluptuous female silhouette in fashion. Is it a superimposed image of a desired female form or a way of accentuating the ample assets of a larger-sized body? Body image has been identified as crucial to clothing provision and fashion consumption. Research has recognized that fuller-sized and obese people were considered unhappy, unconfident, unattractive, and identified a huge level of discrimination and negativity towards the overweight. Presenting and describing a body as voluptuous could be a more palatable way to repackage and reconceptualize the larger-sized. It is perhaps a more flattering description shrouding prejudices with regards to fashion, style, and garment selection. The investigation adopts a number of methodological approaches to identify the fashion choices available for voluptuous bodies and if these clothes involve levels of body modification. The research also suggests how the repackaged voluptuous body could continue to be represented in a future global marketplace

Male and female placentas have divergent transcriptomic and epigenomic responses to maternal diets: not just hormones

International audienceThere is mounting evidence that the placenta can be considered as a programming agent of adult health and diseases. Placental weight and shape at term are correlated with the development of metabolic diseases in adulthood in humans. Maternal obesity and malnutrition predispose the offspring to developing metabolic syndrome, a vicious cycle leading to transmission to subsequent generation(s), with differences in response and susceptibility according to the sex of the individual. Adaptations in placental phenotype in response to maternal diet and body composition alter fetal nutrient provision. This finding implies important epigenetic changes. However, the epigenetics of placental development in studies of developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) is still poorly documented, particularly concerning overnutrition. We used histology, microarray analyses and epigenetic techniques to investigate the effects of a high fat diet (HFD) or low protein diet on mouse placental development, respectively. We showed for the first time that not only the gene sets but also their biological functions affected by the HFD differed markedly between the two sexes. Remarkably, genes of the epigenetic machinery as well as global DNA methylation level showed sexual dimorphism. Imprinted gene expression was altered, with locus-specific changes in DNA methylation. Thus, these findings demonstrate a striking sexual dimorphism of programming trajectories in response to the same environmental challenge, implicating sex chromosome genes, not just hormones. Explaining the sex-specific causal variables and how males versus females respond and adapt, and to what extent, to environmental perturbations should help physicians and patients anticipate disease susceptibility