Assessing the factor structure of the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT) in an overweight and obese Croatian non-clinical sample

Weight-Related Selves and Their Relationship With Body Mass Index Among Young Individuals in Curaçao

Based on the assumptions of self-discrepancy theory, the present study examined the degree of overweight, weight-related body images, and the relation between these images and body mass index (BMI) among two samples of young people from Curaçao (secondary school students, n = 176; undergraduate students, n = 205). In addition to BMI, participants reported their current, ideal, and most feared body sizes, the thinnest and largest body sizes still acceptable to them, and the body size they considered the healthiest by means of the Contour Drawing Rating Scale. We expected females to show a larger discrepancy between current and ideal body size than males (Hypothesis 1) and that this discrepancy (as an indicator of body dissatisfaction) would be related more strongly to BMI among females than among males (Hypothesis 2). Results yielded support for Hypothesis 1 among secondary school students only. Only in the undergraduate sample, BMI and body dissatisfaction were related, but equally so for males and females. Possible explanations are discussed as well as implications for weight management interventions.

Sex-specific glioma genome-wide association study identifies new risk locus at 3p21.31 in females, and finds sex-differences in risk at 8q24.21

Incidence of glioma is approximately 50% higher in males. Previous analyses have examined exposures related to sex hormones in women as potential protective factors for these tumors, with inconsistent results. Previous glioma genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have not stratified by sex. Potential sex-specific genetic effects were assessed in autosomal SNPs and sex chromosome variants for all glioma, GBM and non-GBM patients using data from four previous glioma GWAS. Datasets were analyzed using sex-stratified logistic regression models and combined using meta-analysis. There were 4,831 male cases, 5,216 male controls, 3,206 female cases and 5,470 female controls. A significant association was detected at rs11979158 (7p11.2) in males only. Association at rs55705857 (8q24.21) was stronger in females than in males. A large region on 3p21.31 was identified with significant association in females only. The identified differences in effect of risk variants do not fully explain the observed incidence difference in glioma by sex.

GABA levels in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex during the viewing of appetitive and disgusting food images

Characterizing how the brain appraises the psychological dimensions of reward is one of the central topics of neuroscience. It has become clear that dopamine neurons are implicated in the transmission of both rewarding information and aversive and alerting events through two different neuronal populations involved in encoding the motivational value and the motivational salience of stimuli, respectively. Nonetheless, there is less agreement on the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the related neurotransmitter release during the processing of biologically relevant stimuli. To address this issue, we employed magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), a non-invasive methodology that allows detection of some metabolites in the human brain in vivo, in order to assess the role of the vmPFC in encoding stimulus value rather than stimulus salience. Specifically, we measured gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and, with control purposes, Glx levels in healthy subjects during the observation of appetitive and disgusting food images. We observed a decrease of GABA and no changes in Glx concentration in the vmPFC in both conditions. Furthermore, a comparatively smaller GABA reduction during the observation of appetitive food images than during the observation of disgusting food images was positively correlated with the scores obtained to the body image concerns sub-scale of Body Uneasiness Test (BUT). These results are consistent with the idea that the vmPFC plays a crucial role in processing both rewarding and aversive stimuli, possibly by encoding stimulus salience through glutamatergic and/or noradrenergic projections to deeper mesencephalic and limbic areas.