"I'm Not Only a Body": Change in Thoughts about the Body after Mirror Exposure Treatment in Women with Obesity-An Exploratory Study.

Nowadays, obesity (OB) is one of the most important health problems in population-wide health. In addition to its physical consequences, it is a risk factor for the development of psychological problems, including body dissatisfaction (BD). This is why the treatment of BD is essential for its prevention. However, this has mostly been studied from a quantitative perspective, without focusing on the discomfort experienced by the person and the accompanying thoughts and emotions. In this study, 26 women with obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m2) participated, of whom 16 had high BD and 10 had low BD, as measured by the BSQ questionnaire. The women with high BD underwent six sessions of exposure to their own body in front of a mirror, recording the discomfort experienced with this vision during the session. In addition, all participants recorded positive and negative thoughts towards their body before and after these sessions. After the exposure treatment sessions, a reduction in symptomatology (BD, discomfort when visualizing one's own body) was observed, as well as a change in the thoughts expressed by the participants, both in quantity (fewer negative thoughts) and in quality (a more positive self-perception and/or in more respectful terms used towards themselves). In conclusion, such treatments prove to be effective in reducing subjective discomfort and body-related thoughts in women with obesity.

Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Reprocessed Polylactide/Titanium Dioxide Nanocomposites for Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing.

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable polymer that can replace petroleum-based polymers and is widely used in material extrusion additive manufacturing (AM). The reprocessing of PLA leads to a downcycling of its properties, so strategies are being sought to counteract this effect, such as blending with virgin material or creating nanocomposites. Thus, two sets of nanocomposites based respectively on virgin PLA and a blend of PLA and reprocessed PLA (rPLA) with the addition of 0, 3, and 7 wt% of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2) were created via a double screw extruder system. All blends were used for material extrusion for 3D printing directly from pellets without difficulty. Scanning electron micrographs of fractured samples' surfaces indicate that the nanoparticles gathered in agglomerations in some blends, which were well dispersed in the polymer matrix. The thermal stability and degree of crystallinity for every set of nanocomposites have a rising tendency with increasing nanoparticle concentration. The glass transition and melting temperatures of PLA/TiO2 and PLA/rPLA/TiO2 do not differ much. Tensile testing showed that although reprocessed material implies a detriment to the mechanical properties, in the specimens with 7% nano-TiO2, this effect is counteracted, reaching values like those of virgin PLA.