Can dietary intake influence perception of and measured appearance? A systematic review : dietary intake and appearance

Appearance-based interventions have had some success in reducing smoking and sun exposure. Appearance may also motivate dietary behavior change if it was established that dietary improvement had a positive impact on appearance. The aims of this review are to evaluate the current evidence examining the relationship between dietary intake and appearance and to determine the effectiveness of dietary interventions on perceived or actual appearance. An electronic search of English language studies up to August 2012 was conducted using Cochrane, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, SCOPUS and PsycINFO databases. Studies that included participants aged ≥ 18 years, that observed or altered dietary intake from actual food or dietary supplement use and assessed appearance-related outcomes were considered eligible. Data from 27 studies were extracted and assessed for quality using standardized tools. Nineteen studies were assessed as being of “positive” and four of “neutral” quality. All observational studies (n = 4741 participants) indicated that there was a significant association between various aspects of dietary intake and skin coloration and skin aging. The majority (16 studies, 769 participants) evaluated the effect of dietary supplements on skin appearance amongst females. Only one study examined the effect of actual food intake on appearance. Significant improvements in at least one actual or perceived appearance-related outcome (facial wrinkling, skin elasticity, roughness and skin color) following dietary intervention were shown as a result of supplementation. Further studies are needed in representative populations that examine actual food intake on appearance, using validated tools in a well-designed high quality RCTs.PostprintPeer reviewe

Fact Sheets for Reforestation Strategies under Deer Pressure

Final project for PLSC480: Urban Ecology, Management of Urban Forest Edges (Spring 2016). Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park.Howard Count

Fringes

Title from PDF of title page, viewed June 14, 2023Thesis advisor: Michael PritchettVitaThesis (M.F.A.)--Department of English Language and Literature. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2023This thesis is a collection of short stories that I have written throughout my time as a graduate student in the University of Missouri-Kansas City Master of Fine Arts program. These pieces were picked because, and I believe that they represent the best of my work completed during my time in the program, they also represent the progression of my writing skills during my time in the program. I picked the order of stories for this collection based on chronology. The first story in the collection is the first piece I wrote for the program and the last piece in the collection is the last piece I wrote for the program. I did this because I believe that there is a clear progression in the quality of my writing and in the content displayed in the pieces. I have titled this collection of short stories FRINGES, because I believe that each story presents characters that live on the fringes of society. Whether that be queer people, people struggling with mental illness and generational trauma, robots, widowers, single mothers, murderers, orphans, or victims of capitalism and old traditions, this short story collection offers a full range of ostracized psyches.The old & the new -- Animals -- The Principal's office -- Traditions Plaza -- Gigi -- Josey & her baby -- Train teethix, 186 page

Evaluation of the prescribing practice of guideline-directed medical therapy among ambulatory chronic heart failure patients

Background: Studies have demonstrated that heart failure (HF) patients who receive direct pharmacist input as part of multidisciplinary care have better clinical outcomes. This study evaluated/compared the difference in prescribing practices of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) for chronic HF patients between two multidisciplinary clinics—with and without the direct involvement of a pharmacist. Methods: A retrospective audit of chronic HF patients, presenting to two multidisciplinary outpatient clinics between March 2005 and January 2017, was performed; a Multidisciplinary Ambulatory Consulting Service (MACS) with an integrated pharmacist model of care and a General Cardiology Heart Failure Service (GCHFS) clinic, without the active involvement of a pharmacist. Results: MACS clinic patients were significantly older (80 vs. 73 years, p <.001), more likely to be female (p <.001), and had significantly higher systolic (123 vs. 112 mmHg, p <.001) and diastolic (67 vs. 60 mmHg, p <.05) blood pressures compared to the GCHF clinic patients. Moreover, the MACS clinic patients showed more polypharmacy and higher prevalence of multiple comorbidities. Both clinics had similar prescribing rates of GDMT and achieved maximal tolerated doses of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in HFrEF. However, HFpEF patients in the MACS clinic were significantly more likely to be prescribed ACEIs/ARBs (70.5% vs. 56.2%, p = 0.0314) than the GCHFS patients. Patients with both HFrEF and HFpEF (MACS clinic) were significantly less likely to be prescribe

Trends in bullying victimization in Scottish adolescents (1994-2014) : changing associations with mental well-being

Objectives Bullying victimization among schoolchildren is a major public health concern. This paper aims to analyse the changing associations over two decades between bullying victimization and mental well-being in a representative Scottish schoolchildren sample. Methods Data were collected in six rounds of the cross-sectional Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study in Scotland, with 42,312 adolescents (aged 11, 13 and 15 years). Logistic and linear regression were used to examine changes in the association between bullying victimization and mental well-being. Results The prevalence of bullying victimization rates in Scotland increased between 1994 and 2014 for most age-gender groups, apart from 13-year old boys and 15-year old girls. Over time, female victims reported less confidence and happiness and more psychological complaints than their nonbullied counterparts. This worsening effect over time was not observed in boys. Conclusions Overall, our evidence indicates that the associations between bullying victimization and poor mental well-being strengthened overtime for bullied girls. This finding might partly explain the observed deterioration in mental health indicators among Scottish adolescent girls.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Assessment of health in human faces is context-dependent

This work was supported by the National Environment Research Council, UK (KM), Unilever Research & Development USA and the Economic and Social Research Council (RW, DP).When making decisions between options, humans are expected to choose the option that returns the highest benefit. In practice, however, adding inferior alternatives to the choice set can alter these decisions. Here we investigated whether decisions over the facial features that people find healthy looking can also be affected by the context in which they see those faces. To do this we examined the effect of choice set on the perception of health of images of faces of light-skinned Caucasian females. We manipulated apparent facial health by changing yellowness of the skin: the healthy faces were moderately yellow and the less healthy faces were either much more yellow or much less yellow. In each experiment, two healthy faces were presented along with a third, less healthy face. When the third face was much more yellow, participants chose the more yellow of the two healthy faces more often as the most healthy. However, when the third face was the least yellow, participants chose the less yellow of the two healthy faces more often. A further experiment confirmed that this result is not due to a generalised preference for an intermediate option. These results extend our understanding of context-dependent decision-making in humans, and suggest that comparative evaluation may be a common feature across many different kinds of choices that humans have to make.PostprintPeer reviewe

Attractive skin coloration: Harnessing sexual selection to improve diet and health

In this paper we review the mechanisms through which carotenoid coloration could provide a sexually selected cue to condition in species with elaborate color vision. Skin carotenoid pigmentation induced by fruit and vegetable consumption may provide a similar cue to health in humans (particularly light-skinned Asians and Caucasians). Evidence demonstrates that carotenoid-based skin coloration enhances apparent health, and that dietary change can perceptibly impact skin color within weeks. We find that the skin coloration associated with increased fruit and vegetable consumption benefits apparent health to a greater extent than melanin pigmentation. We argue that the benefits to appearance may motivate individuals to improve their diet and that this line of appearance research reveals a potentially powerful strategy for motivating a healthy lifestyle