Retouched or Unaltered? That is the Question. Body Image and Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery in Young Female Instagram Users.

BACKGROUND: Viewing Instagram altered images of attractive women has negative effects on women's body image. This study examined the effects of exposure to a 'before' and 'after' retouched image, in combination with a disclaimer, on female Instagram users' thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction and acceptance of cosmetic surgery. METHODS: An experimental design with a control group without pretesting was adopted. Participants (N = 105) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Group 1 was exposed to a replica of an Instagram post with an enhanced image of a woman; Group 2 was shown the same enhanced image and the original one in combination with a disclaimer that the enhanced image had been digitally edited; Group 3 (the control) was exposed to a neutral image. RESULTS: The MANOVA showed that participants in Group 2 reported lower levels of thin-ideal internalization and acceptance of cosmetic surgery for social reasons compared to those in Group 1. Contrary to our hypothesis, the degree of body dissatisfaction was not significantly different among the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: The present study could be promising for the development of brief interventions aimed at reducing the negative effects of Instagram exposure on young women's body image. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE V: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Relationship between coronary artery disease and C-reactive protein levels in NSTEMI patients with renal dysfunction: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: While chronic renal damage is a condition with low-grade inflammation, the potential role of inflammation in kidney disease as a marker of cardiovascular damage is of current interest. This study analyzed the relationship between renal dysfunction, chronic inflammation, and extension of coronary atherosclerosis in patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). METHODS: This retrospective study was carried out on consecutive patients presenting with NSTEMI to Maggiore Hospital's emergency department between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011. Patients' electronic charts were reviewed to gather information on patients' history, clinical and biochemical variables, with a special focus on inflammatory markers, coronary vessel damage, and drug treatments. RESULTS: Of the 320 individuals in the study population, 138 (43.1%) had an admission GFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2. Kidney dysfunction was significantly associated with age (OR = 1.09, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.12), history of heart failure (OR = 2.13, 95% CI 1.08 to 4.17), and hypertension (OR = 2.31, 95% 1.12 to 4.74). C-reactive protein (CRP) and uric acid levels were significantly increased in patients with severe renal dysfunction (SRD) by bivariate and multivariate analyses, adjusted for gender, age and comorbidities at admission. The extent of coronary artery disease (CAD) was significantly higher in the SRD group (p < 0.001). Individuals with SRD were less likely to receive immediate evidence-based therapies (62.9% vs. 76.7% and 82.0% in those with intermediate and no/mild renal dysfunction, p < 0.001). Hospital stay was significantly longer in individuals with a greater extent of CAD, diabetes, and a history of heart failure, and was borderline significantly associated with renal dysfunction (p = 0.08). Older age, CAD severity, and renal function were associated with worsening GFR during hospitalization, whereas immediate evidence-based treatment was unrelated to a GFR change. CONCLUSIONS: Among individuals hospitalized for NSTEMI, those with SRD had a more extensive CAD and a higher prevalence of pre-existing cardiovascular disease. CRP was positively correlated with renal dysfunction and the number of involved coronary vessels, confirming its potential as a biomarker. Uric acid was associated with renal dysfunction but not with the number of diseased coronary vessels.

[Towards an Islamic ethics of the body: from Middle Ages through transplantation surgery]. / Per un'etica del corpo nell'Islam: dal Medioevo alla chirurgia dei trapianti.

The study of some of the open questions arisen in the relation of transplantation surgery with contemporary Islam ethics shows the presence of some specific problems which derive from the different attitude Islam shows towards bioethic matters: namely, the tendency - entrenched in cultural tradition since the Middle Ages - to privilege law and ethics and juridical-religious prescriptions over technical-scientific assumptions. A short survey illustrates some of the different positions involved in the debate and hints at some possibilities to find a positive issue for such questions.

Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) on chip experiments uncover a widespread distribution of NF-Y binding CCAAT sites outside of core promoters.

The CCAAT box is a prototypical promoter element, almost invariably found between -60 and -100 upstream of the major transcription start site. It is bound and activated by the histone fold trimer NF-Y. We performed chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) on chip experiments on two different CpG islands arrays using chromatin from hepatic HepG2 and pre-B cell leukemia NALM-6 cell lines, with different protocols of probe preparation and labeling. We analyzed and classified 239 known or predicted targets; we validated several by conventional ChIPs with anti-YB and anti-YC antibodies, in vitro EMSAs, and ChIP scanning. The importance of NF-Y binding for gene expression was verified by the use of a dominant negative NF-YA mutant. All but four genes are new NF-Y targets, falling into different functional categories. This analysis reinforces the notion that NF-Y is an important regulator of cell growth, and novel unexpected findings emerged from this unbiased approach. (i) A remarkable proportion of NF-Y targets, 40%, are complex transcriptional units composed of divergent, convergent, and tandem promoters. (ii) 40-50% of NF-Y sites are not in core promoters but are in introns or at distant 3' or 5' locations. The abundance of "unorthodox" CCAAT positions highlights an unexpected complexity of the NF-Y-mediated transcriptional network.

[Blood as a clinical sign in the corpus hippocraticum]. / Il sangue come segno clinico nel corpus hippocraticum.

Blood as a clinical sign has a key role throughout the Corpus Hippocraticum: as the most prominent and visible of the four fluids which make up the humoral system, it recurs quite often as a crucial cue for prognosis. This paper collects and classifies some of the most important loci in the Corpus which are devoted to describe and interpret the different qualities of human blood and the ways it can be altered and corrupted; this recollection clearly shows the systematic character of the Hippocratic treatment of blood and its function within the whole theoretical building of CH. The status of blood within the evolution of medical theories in the Antiquity is also scrutinized, especially as far as the polemics on encephalocentrism vs haemocentrism is concerned. The nature of observations about the manifestation of pure and altered blood sheds light on the epistemological status of clinical observation within the clinical methods of the Hippocratic school.

[The origins of the Islamic model of hospital]. / Sull'origine del modello Islamico di ospedale.

In this paper a new perspective is proposed regarding the most relevant factors in the origin and the first developments of the Islamic hospital in Abbasid Baghdad. Notably, the importance of the Persian contribution to the foundation of the first hospitals is questioned and the major focus is put on the role of Eastern Christian assistential institutions. The rise of the Islamic hospital is reconsidered in the frame of the wider process of urbanisation in the first Abbasid century. The Islamic bîmaristan brought about a new concept of assistance by offering a medical cure rather than care.