PSYCHOMETRIC EVALUATION OF THE GREEK VERSION OF THE BODY ESTEEM SCALE

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Body Esteem Scale (BES) in a community sample (N = 2162) of both genders. A set of questionnaires was administered. It included demographic data, Body Mass Index, the Body Esteem Scale (BES), the Body Appreciation Scale, the Other as Shamer, the Experience of Shame Scale, and Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale. The best solution for BES (according to confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis) supported a four-factor structure for both men and women. Cronbach’s α ranged from .77 to .89 in all subscales. All BES subscales significantly correlated (positively/negatively) with the rest of the questionnaires. Test-retest correlation coefficients ranged from .92 to .95 in all subscales. Age and BMI significantly predicted the BES score. In conclusion, the Greek version of the BES has adequate internal consistency reliability, construct validity, test-retest reliability and is suitable for research and clinical use

The "Beautiful" pain: cosmetic surgery and the embodiment of pain

This article focuses on women undergoing plastic surgery operations, highlighting their particular attitude toward pain, which is caused by the desperate pursuit of beauty. Extracting data from semi-structured interviews, it is shown how pain is defied, eliminated or even denied by individuals undergoing cosmetic surgery. Since cosmetic procedures are carried out for aesthetic reasons, people disconnect this process from any negative emotion and ignore pain and trauma yielded from surgical operation. Hence, a special kind of pain embodiment is reflexively emerged. Pain is not a one-dimensional biological stimulus; it is rather associated with how each social group perceives, interprets and reacts to the biological stimulus, producing a particular mode of embodiment

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

The accessible chromatin landscape of the human genome

DNaseI hypersensitive sites (DHSs) are markers of regulatory DNA and have underpinned the discovery of all classes of cis-regulatory elements including enhancers, promoters, insulators, silencers, and locus control regions. Here we present the first extensive map of human DHSs identified through genome-wide profiling in 125 diverse cell and tissue types. We identify ~2.9 million DHSs that encompass virtually all known experimentally-validated cis-regulatory sequences and expose a vast trove of novel elements, most with highly cell-selective regulation. Annotating these elements using ENCODE data reveals novel relationships between chromatin accessibility, transcription, DNA methylation, and regulatory factor occupancy patterns. We connect ~580,000 distal DHSs with their target promoters, revealing systematic pairing of different classes of distal DHSs and specific promoter types. Patterning of chromatin accessibility at many regulatory regions is choreographed with dozens to hundreds of co-activated elements, and the trans-cellular DNaseI sensitivity pattern at a given region can predict cell type-specific functional behaviors. The DHS landscape shows signatures of recent functional evolutionary constraint. However, the DHS compartment in pluripotent and immortalized cells exhibits higher mutation rates than that in highly differentiated cells, exposing an unexpected link between chromatin accessibility, proliferative potential and patterns of human variation

MOKSLAS, GENETINĖS ŽINIOS IR ŽMOGAUS KŪNAS

Straipsnyje apžvelgiamas mokslo ir mokslinio pažinimo dinaminis pobūdis besikeičiančioje biotechnologijų eroje, taip pat besiformuojantis genetizacijosdiskursas ir jo reikšmė genetiniam konsultavimui (akcentuojant Huntingtono ligą) ir žmogaus kūnui. Žvelgiant iš daugiadalykės perspektyvos, siekiamanuodugniai ištirti ir kritiškai įvertinti šiuolaikinę kritinę literatūrą, skirtą šiems atskiriems, tačiau susipynusiems klausimams. Straipsnyje taip pat kviečiamasvarstyti, ką reiškia būti žmogumi ir kaip tvarkyti genetinį ir kūno pažinimą bei praktikas.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: mokslas, genetinis pažinimas, žmogaus kūnas, gamta, etika.Science, Genetic Knowledge and the Human BodyCharalambos Tsekeris, George Alexias SummaryThis paper aims to overview the dynamical character of science and scientific knowledge within the changing biotechnological era, as well as the emergent discourse of geneticization and its relevance to genetic counseling (with particular emphasis on Huntington’s Disease) and the human body. Its mainpurpose is to carefully explore and comprehensively critique the contemporary theoretical literature on these distinct but interdependent issues from an interdisciplinary standpoint. The paper encourages further critical contributions to thinking about what it means to be human, as well as about how to copewith current genetic and bodily knowledge and practices.Key words: science, genetic knowledge, human body, nature, ethics

INNOSI Project - An Integrated Intervention for Connecting Vocational Schools Graduates with the Labour Market - Greece

The programme aimed at providing a solid “corpus” of skills, motives and working experience to VET schools graduates and, also, being profitable for the participating enterprises through an inte-grated social investment initiative. The initiative as part of an EU active labour market policy (YEI) included: a) theoretical training in the form of horizontal (“soft”) “tools” so that beneficiaries are able to meet the requirements of labour market; b) vocational counselling oriented to the estab-lishment of employability and adjustment; and c) acquisition of working experience (internship) in enterprises by matching the graduates’ specialties with the areas the enterprises trade in