Mental body representations of women with tattoos in emerging adulthood - a cluster analysis.

Tattoo is a permanent body modification relevant to women's bodily experiences. Previous studies on the population of tattooers have focused mainly on searching for negative or positive aspects of tattooing, mainly in the field of self-esteem. The aim of this study was to explore the mental body representations of tattooed women during emerging adulthood. Three hundred and twenty-seven women with tattoos, aged 18 to 25 (M = 21.48; SD = 2.05), participated in the study. In the study, we adopted a quantitative research project; the data for analysis was obtained from questionnaires that were completed online between January and March 2021. Women with tattoos completed a survey containing demographic questions, questions regarding their tattoos, the Battery of Tests of Body Self Representations, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Based on that a cluster analysis, we have discovered three types of mental body representations that may characterize them: (1) unstable, (2) disordered, and (3) integrated. The study showed that having a tattoo is associated with experiencing carnality in a specific way.

The impact of auxins used in assisted phytoextraction of metals from the contaminated environment on the alterations caused by lead(II) ions in the organization of model lipid membranes.

Auxins are successfully used to improve phytoextraction efficiency of metal ions from the contaminated environment, however, the mechanism of their activity in this field is not explained. Auxins are known to exert various biochemical alterations in the plant membranes and cells, but their activity involves also direct interactions with lipids leading to changes in membrane organization. Following the suggestion that the auxins-induced modifications in membrane properties alleviate toxic effect of metal ions in this paper we have undertaken the comparative studies on the effect of metal ions and metal ions/auxins mixtures on model membrane systems. The experiments were done on lipid monolayers differing in their composition spread on water subphase and on Pb(2+), Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and Pb(2+)/IAA and Pb(2+)/NAA water solutions. The analysis of the collected data suggests that metal ions and auxins can change fluidity of the lipid systems and weaken the interactions between monolayer components. This manifested in the increase of the mean area per molecule and the excess area per molecule values for the films on Pb(2+), auxins as well as Pb(2+)/auxin solutions as compared to the values on pure water subphase. However, the presence of auxin in the mixture with lead(II) ions makes the alterations induced by sole metal ions weaker. This effect was more pronounced for the membranes of a higher packing. Thus it was proposed that auxins may enhance phytoextraction of metal ions by weakening their destabilizing effect on membrane.