Catching up with wonderful women: The women-are-wonderful effect is smaller in more gender egalitarian societies.

Inequalities between men and women are common and well-documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies-there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women-are-wonderful effect-that women are evaluated more positively than men overall-is also common. Cross-cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self-reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women-are-wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women.

Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals.

Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones-they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than the same non-smiling individual in cultures low on the GLOBE's uncertainty avoidance dimension. Furthermore, we show that corruption at the societal level may undermine the prosocial perception of smiling-in societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals is reduced. This research fosters understanding of the cultural framework surrounding nonverbal communication processes and reveals that in some cultures smiling may lead to negative attributions.

In vivo examination of meibomian gland morphology in patients with facial nerve palsy using infrared meibography.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of orbicularis oculi weakness on meibomian gland morphology using infrared meibography. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. Patients were recruited from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Inclusion criteria required the patient to be at least 18 years of age and have a unilateral facial nerve palsy. A total of 32 affected eyelids from 20 patients were studied. The aforementioned participant group was examined using infrared video meibography. The contralateral unaffected eyelids served as control. Eyelids with previous surgery were excluded. Data collected included age and gender in addition to laterality, duration, and cause of the palsy. Each eyelid was assigned a "meibograde" based on morphological changes of the meibomian glands. RESULTS: The main outcome measure was the "meibograde" based on infrared morphology of the meibomian glands. Fourteen upper and 18 lower eyelids affected by facial nerve palsies of various durations were examined. Mean patient age was 57.6 years (range 20-86). The affected lower eyelid meibograde (n = 12) was significantly different than the control (p = 0.001) in patients with weakness for more than 3 months. No difference was found in the upper eyelids at less than (n = 6) or more than (n = 8) 3 months duration. Similarly, the lower eyelids affected for less than 3 months (n = 6) showed no statistically significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: Over time, weakness of the orbicularis oculi is associated with morphological changes in the lower lid representing increased meibomian gland dysfunction. This may represent an overlooked cause of ocular surface disease in patients with facial nerve weakness.

Meibography: A review of techniques and technologies.

Meibomian glands play a significant role in tear production by contributing lipids to the superficial tear film.(1) Dysfunction of the meibomian glands destabilizes tears resulting in evaporative dry eye.(2,3) Historically, the meibomian glands were assessed in an ex vivo fashion through histologic studies. However, innovations in ocular imaging have advanced significantly in recent decades to include meibography. Meibography is an imaging study developed 35 years ago exclusively for the purpose of observing the morphology of meibomian glands in vivo.(4,5) In this review of meibography, we briefly describe the etiology of meibomian gland dysfunction and then discuss various meibography techniques, technologies, and methods of image analysis. We close with a review of the literature, crediting various studies for the significant contributions made toward our current understanding of the meibomian glands.