Examining the ‘Cosmetics Placebo Effect’

Previous studies have found a positive effect of cosmetics on certain behavioral measures, such as the tip given to waitresses by male patrons. These studies have employed confederates who usually wear cosmetics. We therefore sought to examine whether the positive effect found in these studies could, in part, be explained by a change in behavior. In order to test the possibility of a ‘cosmetics placebo effect’, we employed a confederate to solicit donations from passersby. On some days our confederate would not have any cosmetics applied to her face (i.e., no cosmetics condition), on some days cosmetics were pretended to be applied to her face (i.e., placebo cosmetics condition), and on other days cosmetics were actually applied to her face (i.e., cosmetics condition). In line with previous research, we found that across conditions men donated significantly more than women to our female solicitor, providing support for the ‘showoff hypothesis’, in which male generosity serves as a mating tactic. When investigating men’s donations in more detail, we found that the highest percentage of donations came in the cosmetics condition, followed by the placebo cosmetics condition, and then by no cosmetics condition. The effect of condition on donation rates, however, was not statistically significant. Our study was limited to one solicitor and one dependent variable (i.e., percentage of people approached who donated) and therefore future research would benefit from using more confederates as well as examining other behavioral measures. Given the influence of cosmetics use on so many real-world outcomes, we believe that further exploration into a possible ‘cosmetics placebo effect’ would be valuable

Bridging the gaps: studying the misconceptions, knowledge gaps and commonly held beliefs about dementia with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Far North Queensland

Aims: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have lower life expectancy and worse health outcomes than the general Australian population and an increased risk of dementia within these communities has recently been found (Smith et al., 2008). Although studies have shown that dementia is not widely understood within urban Aboriginal Communities (Garvey et al. 2011), knowledge in remote communities and in the Torres Strait, where health inequalities are greatest, has not been investigated. As knowledge of symptoms has been linked to willingness to seek treatment and early diagnosis is crucial for optimal treatment of dementia, the aim of this study was to investigate understanding of Alzheimer's disease and dementia amongst remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and to clarify variables that influence dementia literacy. Methods: A total of 462 adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders completed the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Survey for Indigenous Australians whilst attending three cultural festivals in Far North Queensland. Responses were analyzed to evaluate overall knowledge of Alzheimer's disease and dementia as well as identify commonly held beliefs, misconceptions and knowledge gaps. Results: Consistent with previous research, dementia knowledge was low (mean score = 5.23 (SD 2.9), range 0–13 out of 20) and did not differ significantly between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Although there was a commonly held belief that memory loss was a central feature of Alzheimer's disease, there were shared misconceptions about the cause, prevalence and treatment of dementia and how dementia is diagnosed. Conclusion: Results highlighted the importance of developing culturally appropriate interventions to improve dementia literacy amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders given the increased risk of dementia within these communities

Community involvement to maximise research success in Torres Strait Islander populations: more than ticking the boxes

Context: Health research is important to effectively address the health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. However, research within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities has not always been conducted ethically or with tangible benefits to those involved. Justifiably then, people may be reticent to welcome researchers into their communities. Genuine commitment to community consultation, the fostering of partnerships and collaborative approaches maximise successful outcomes and research translation in these communities. Issue: Despite guidelines existing to ensure the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are met through any research involving them, non-Indigenous researchers may not be fully aware of the complexities involved in applying these guidelines. This paper explores how a team of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous researchers understood and applied the guidelines during a three-year dementia prevalence study in the Torres Strait. Their reflections on the practicalities involved in conducting ethically sound and culturally appropriate research are discussed. Lessons learned: Having a deep understanding of the ethical principles of research with Torres Strait communities is more than just ticking the boxes on ethics approvals. Genuine community involvement is paramount in conducting research with the communities and only then will research be relevant to community needs, culturally appropriate and facilitate the translation of knowledge into practice

Aging well for Indigenous peoples: a scoping review

As life expectancy increases for Indigenous populations, so does the number of older adults with complex, chronic health conditions and age-related geriatric syndromes. Many of these conditions are associated with modifiable lifestyle factors that, if addressed, may improve the health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples as they age. If models of healthy aging are to be promoted within health services, a clearer understanding of what aging well means for Indigenous peoples is needed. Indigenous peoples hold a holistic worldview of health and aging that likely differs from Western models. The aims of this review were to: investigate the literature that exists and where the gaps are, on aging well for Indigenous peoples; assess the quality of the existing literature on Indigenous aging; identify the domains of aging well for Indigenous peoples; and identify the enablers and barriers to aging well for Indigenous peoples. A systematic search of online databases, book chapters, gray literature, and websites identified 32 eligible publications on Indigenous aging. Reflexive thematic analysis identified four major themes on aging well: (1) achieving holistic health and wellbeing; (2) maintaining connections; (3) revealing resilience, humor, and a positive attitude; and (4) facing the challenges. Findings revealed that aging well is a holistic concept enabled by spiritual, physical, and mental wellbeing and where reliance on connections to person, place, and culture is central. Participants who demonstrated aging well took personal responsibility, adapted to change, took a positive attitude to life, and showed resilience. Conversely, barriers to aging well arose from the social determinants of health such as lack of access to housing, transport, and adequate nutrition. Furthermore, the impacts of colonization such as loss of language and culture and ongoing grief and trauma all challenged the ability to age well. Knowing what aging well means for Indigenous communities can facilitate health services to provide culturally appropriate and effective care

Identification of a multidrug efflux pump in Flavobacterium johnsoniae

In this study, the mechanism conferring multiple drug resistance in several strains of flavobacteria isolated from the ovarian fluids of hatchery reared 3-year old brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis was investigated. Metabolic fingerprinting and 16S rRNA gene sequences identified the isolates as Flavobacterium johnsoniae. The isolates exhibited multiple resistances to a wide range of antimicrobial classes including penicillin, cephem, monobactam, aminoglycoside, and phenicol. Although plasmids and other transposable elements containing antimicrobial resistance genes were not detected, the isolates did contain a genomic sequence for a chloramphenicol-inducible resistance-nodulation-division family multidrug efflux pump system. Efflux pumps are non-specific multidrug efflux systems. They are also a component of cell-cell communication systems, and respond specifically to cell membrane stressors such as oxidative or nitrosative stress. Understanding of efflux pump mediated antibiotic resistances will affect efficacy of clinical treatments of fishes associated with F. johnsoniae epizootics

Using the Aesop's fable paradigm to investigate causal understanding of water displacement by New Caledonian crows.

Understanding causal regularities in the world is a key feature of human cognition. However, the extent to which non-human animals are capable of causal understanding is not well understood. Here, we used the Aesop's fable paradigm--in which subjects drop stones into water to raise the water level and obtain an out of reach reward--to assess New Caledonian crows' causal understanding of water displacement. We found that crows preferentially dropped stones into a water-filled tube instead of a sand-filled tube; they dropped sinking objects rather than floating objects; solid objects rather than hollow objects, and they dropped objects into a tube with a high water level rather than a low one. However, they failed two more challenging tasks which required them to attend to the width of the tube, and to counter-intuitive causal cues in a U-shaped apparatus. Our results indicate that New Caledonian crows possess a sophisticated, but incomplete, understanding of the causal properties of displacement, rivalling that of 5-7 year old children

Using health check data to understand risks for dementia and cognitive impairment among Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal peoples in northern Queensland—a data linkage study

Objective: High rates of dementia are evident in First Nations populations, and modifiable risk factors may be contributing to this increased risk. This study aimed to use a longitudinal dataset to gain insights into the long-term risk and protective factors for dementia and cognitive impairment not dementia (CIND) in a Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal population in Far North Queensland, Australia. Study Design and Setting: Probabilistic data linkage was used to combine baseline health check data obtained in 1998/2000 and 2006/2007 for 64 residents in remote communities with their results on a single dementia assessment 10–20 years later (2015–2018). The relationship between earlier measures and later CIND/dementia status was examined using generalized linear modeling with risk ratios (RRs). Due to the small sample size, bootstrapping was used to inform variable selection during multivariable modeling. Results: One third of participants (n = 21, 32.8%) were diagnosed with dementia (n = 6) or CIND (n = 15) at follow-up. Secondary school or further education (RR = 0.38, 95% CI 0.19–0.76, p = 0.006) and adequate levels of self-reported physical activity (RR = 0.26, 95% CI 0.13–0.52, p < 0.001) were repeatedly selected in bootstrapping and showed some evidence of protection against later CIND/dementia in final multivariate models, although these had moderate collinearity. Vascular risk measures showed inconclusive or unexpected associations with later CIND/dementia risk. Conclusions: The preliminary findings from this small study highlighted two potential protective factors for dementia that may be present in this population. A tentative risk profile for later CIND/dementia risk is suggested, although the small sample size limits the applicability of these findings

Subversive Legal Education:Reformist Steps TowardAbolitionist Visions

Exclusivity in legal education divides traditional scholars, students, and impacted communities most disproportionately harmed by the legal education system. While traditional legal scholars tend to embrace traditional legal education, organic jurists—those who are historically excluded from legal education and those who educate themselves and their communities about their legal rights and realities—often reject the inaccessibility of legal education and its power. This Essay joins a team of community legal writers to imagine a set of principles for subversive legal education. Together, we—formerly incarcerated pro se litigants, paralegals for intergenerational movement lawyering initiatives, first-generation law students and lawyers, persons with years of formal legal expertise, and people who have gained expertise outside of law schools—bring together critical insight about the impact of legal education’s exclusivity and the means by which we have worked to expand access necessary for our survival. The Essay explores the frameworks of movement law, Black feminism, and abolition as impacted people look to reclaim experiences and create tools for subversive legal education that teaches that the law belongs to the people and how they themselves can make and change the law. In Part I, we explore reformist strategies that address the pervasive racism in legal education and the bar admission system while leaving the institutional framework intact. In Part II, we share four case studies of transformative legal tools; these tools work to subvert legal education from a machine that excludes, extracts, and exploits our communities into a mechanism that educates and liberates our communities. In Part III, these case studies illuminate principles that prioritizes access, transparency, and collective design with impacted scholars and communities. This is a first step toward abolition—a radical reimagination of legal education that makes legal knowledge a right, that democratizes legal power, and that recognizes that the production of legal knowledge, teaching, and scholarship must include those whom the law impacts, consistent with the disability rights activism mantra “Nothing About Us Without Us.” For us, abolishing the existing structures perpetuating exclusive enclaves in legal education can assist in other abolitionist struggles, such as abolition of the prison industrial complex; these struggles are tied, not siloed from one another

Offspring of mice exposed to a low-protein diet in utero demonstrate changes in mTOR signaling in pancreatic islets of langerhans, associated with altered glucagon and insulin expression and a lower β-cell mass

Low birth weight is a risk factor for gestational and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Since mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) controls pancreatic β-cell mass and hormone release, we hypothesized that nutritional insult in utero might permanently alter mTOR signaling. Mice were fed a low-protein (LP, 8%) or control (C, 20%) diet throughout pregnancy, and offspring examined until 130 days age. Mice receiving LP were born 12% smaller and β-cell mass was significantly reduced throughout life. Islet mTOR levels were lower in LP-exposed mice and localized predominantly to α-rather than β-cells. Incubation of isolated mouse islets with rapamycin significantly reduced cell proliferation while increasing apoptosis. mRNA levels for mTORC complex genes mTOR, Rictor and Raptor were elevated at 7 days in LP mice, as were the mTOR and Raptor proteins. Proglucagon gene expression was similarly increased, but not insulin or the immune/metabolic defense protein STING. In human and mouse pancreas STING was strongly associated with islet β-cells. Results support long-term changes in islet mTOR signaling in response to nutritional insult in utero, with altered expression of glucagon and insulin and a reduced β-cell mass. This may contribute to an increased risk of gestational or type 2 diabetes