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Importance Injuries cause 30% more deaths than HIV, TB and malaria combined, and a prospective fracture care registry was established to investigate the fracture burden and treatment in Malawi to inform evidence-based improvements. Objective To use the analysis of prospectively-collected fracture data to develop evidence-based strategies to improve fracture care in Malawi and other similar settings. Design Multicentre prospective registry study. Setting Two large referral centres and two district hospitals in Malawi. Participants All patients with a fracture (confirmed by radiographs)—including patients with multiple fractures—were eligible to be included in the registry. Exposure All fractures that presented to two urban central and two rural district hospitals in Malawi over a 3.5-year period (September 2016 to March 2020). Main outcome(s) and measure(s) Demographics, characteristics of injuries, and treatment outcomes were collected on all eligible participants. Results Between September 2016 and March 2020, 23,734 patients were enrolled with a median age of 15 years (interquartile range: 10–35 years); 68.7% were male. The most common injuries were radius/ulna fractures (n = 8,682, 36.8%), tibia/fibula fractures (n = 4,036, 17.0%), humerus fractures (n = 3,527, 14.9%) and femoral fractures (n = 2,355, 9.9%). The majority of fractures (n = 21,729, 91.6%) were treated by orthopaedic clinical officers; 88% (20,885/2,849) of fractures were treated non-operatively, and 62.7% were treated and sent home on the same day. Open fractures (OR:53.19, CI:39.68–72.09), distal femoral fractures (OR:2.59, CI:1.78–3.78), patella (OR:10.31, CI:7.04–15.07), supracondylar humeral fractures (OR:3.10, CI:2.38–4.05), ankle fractures (OR:2.97, CI:2.26–3.92) and tibial plateau fractures (OR:2.08, CI:1.47–2.95) were more likely to be treated operatively compared to distal radius fractures. Conclusions and relevance The current model of fracture care in Malawi is such that trained orthopaedic surgeons manage fractures operatively in urban referral centres whereas orthopaedic clinical officers mainly manage fractures non-operatively in both district and referral centres. We recommend that orthopaedic surgeons should supervise orthopaedic clinical officers to manage non operative injuries in central and district hospitals. There is need for further studies to assess the clinical and patient reported outcomes of these fracture cases, managed both operatively and non-operatively.

BACKGROUND: G-protein coupled receptors (GPR) bear the potential to serve as yet unidentified drug targets for psychiatric and metabolic disorders. GPR12 is of major interest given its putative role in metabolic function and its unique brain distribution, which suggests a role in emotionality and affect. We tested Gpr12 deficient mice in a series of metabolic and behavioural tests and subjected them to a well-established high-fat diet feeding protocol. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Comparing the mutant mice with wild type littermates, no significant differences were seen in body weight, fatness or weight gain induced by a high-fat diet. The Gpr12 mutant mice displayed a modest but significant lowering of energy expenditure and a trend to lower food intake on a chow diet, but no other metabolic parameters, including respiratory rate, were altered. No emotionality-related behaviours (assessed by light-dark box, tail suspension, and open field tests) were affected by the Gpr12 gene mutation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Studying metabolic and emotionality parameters in Gpr12 mutant mice did not reveal a major phenotypic impact of the gene mutation. Compared to previous results showing a metabolic phenotype in Gpr12 mice with a mixed 129 and C57Bl6 background, we suggest that a more pure C57Bl/6 background due to further backcrossing might have reduced the phenotypic penetrance.

Human macrophages (Mφ) express low levels of CD4 glycoprotein, which is constitutively recycled, and 40-50% of its localization is intracellular at steady-state. Although CD4-interacting proteins in lymphoid cells are well characterised, little is known about the CD4 protein interaction-network in human Mφ, which notably lack LCK, a Src family protein tyrosine kinase believed to stabilise CD4 at the surface of T cells. As CD4 is the main cellular receptor used by HIV-1, knowledge of its molecular interactions is important for the understanding of viral infection strategies.We performed large-scale anti-CD4 immunoprecipitations in human primary Mφ followed by high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis to elucidate the protein interaction-network involved in induced CD4 internalization and degradation. Proteomic analysis of CD4 co-immunoisolates in resting Mφ showed CD4 association with a range of proteins found in the cellular cortex, membrane rafts and components of clathrin-adaptor proteins, whereas in induced internalization and degradation CD4 is associated with components of specific signal transduction, transport and the proteasome.This is the first time that the anti-CD4 co-immunoprecipitation sub-proteome has been analysed in human primary Mφ. Our data have identified important Mφ cell surface CD4-interacting proteins, as well as regulatory proteins involved in internalization and degradation. The data give valuable insights into the molecular pathways involved in the regulation of CD4 expression in Mφ and provide candidates/targets for further biochemical studies.

BackgroundEvolution of resistance by target pests is the main threat to the long-term efficacy of crops expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insecticidal proteins. Cry2 proteins play a pivotal role in current Bt spray formulations and transgenic crops and they complement Cry1A proteins because of their different mode of action. Their presence is critical in the control of those lepidopteran species, such as Helicoverpa spp., which are not highly susceptible to Cry1A proteins. In Australia, a transgenic variety of cotton expressing Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab (Bollgard II) comprises at least 80% of the total cotton area. Prior to the widespread adoption of Bollgard II, the frequency of alleles conferring resistance to Cry2Ab in field populations of Helicoverpa armigera and Helicoverpa punctigera was significantly higher than anticipated. Colonies established from survivors of F(2) screens against Cry2Ab are highly resistant to this toxin, but susceptible to Cry1Ac.Methodology/principal findingsBioassays performed with surface-treated artificial diet on neonates of H. armigera and H. punctigera showed that Cry2Ab resistant insects were cross-resistant to Cry2Ae while susceptible to Cry1Ab. Binding analyses with (125)I-labeled Cry2Ab were performed with brush border membrane vesicles from midguts of Cry2Ab susceptible and resistant insects. The results of the binding analyses correlated with bioassay data and demonstrated that resistant insects exhibited greatly reduced binding of Cry2Ab toxin to midgut receptors, whereas no change in (125)I-labeled-Cry1Ac binding was detected. As previously demonstrated for H. armigera, Cry2Ab binding sites in H. punctigera were shown to be shared by Cry2Ae, which explains why an alteration of the shared binding site would lead to cross-resistance between the two Cry2A toxins.Conclusion/significanceThis is the first time that a mechanism of resistance to the Cry2 class of insecticidal proteins has been reported. Because we found the same mechanism of resistance in multiple strains representing several field populations, we conclude that target site alteration is the most likely means that field populations evolve resistance to Cry2 proteins in Helicoverpa spp. Our work also confirms the presence in the insect midgut of specific binding sites for this class of proteins. Characterizing the Cry2 receptors and their mutations that enable resistance could lead to the development of molecular tools to monitor resistance in the field.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented changes to educational institutions, forcing their closure and a subsequent shift to online education to cater to student learning requirements. However, successful online learning depends on several factors and may also vary between countries. As such, this cross-sectional study sought to investigate how engagement of university students, a major driver of online learning, was influenced by course content, online interaction, student acceptance, and satisfaction with online learning, as well as self-efficacy across nine countries (China, India, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal, Serbia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a questionnaire-based approach, data collected from 6,489 university students showed that student engagement was strongly linked to perception of the quality of the course content and online interactions (p < .001). The current study also indicated that online interactions are a major determinant of academic efficacy but only if mediated by engagement within the online learning context. A negative correlation between student engagement and satisfaction with online learning was found, demonstrating the importance of students being engaged behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively to feel satisfied with learning. Academic efficacy and student satisfaction were explained by course content, online interaction, and online learning acceptance, being mediated by student engagement. Student satisfaction and, to a lesser degree academic efficacy, were also associated with online learning acceptance. Overall, the structural equation model was a good fit for the data collected from all nine countries (CFI = .947, TLI = .943; RMSEA = .068; SRMR = .048), despite differences in the percentage variations explained by each factor (no invariance), likely due to differences in levels of technology use, learning management systems, and the preparedness of teachers to migrate to full online instruction. Despite limitations, the results of this study highlight the most important factors affecting online learning, providing insight into potential approaches for improving student experiences in online learning environments., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Sharif Nia et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Animacy plays an important role in cognition (e.g., memory and language). Across languages, a processing advantage for animate words (representing living beings), comparatively to inanimate words (i.e., non-living things), has been found mostly in young adults. Evidence in older adults, though, is still unclear, possibly due to the use of stimuli not properly characterised for this age group. Indeed, whereas several animacy word-rating studies already exist for young adults, these are non-existent for older adults. This work provides animacy ratings for 500 British English and 224 European Portuguese words, rated by young and older adults from the corresponding countries. The comparisons across languages and ages revealed a high interrater agreement. Nonetheless, the Portuguese samples provided higher mean ratings of animacy than the British samples. Also, the older adults assigned, on average, higher animacy ratings than the young adults. The Age X Language interaction was non-significant. These results suggest an inter-age and inter-language consistency in whether a word represents an animate or an inanimate thing, although with some differences, emphasising the need for age- and language-specific word rating data. The animacy ratings are available via OSF: https://osf.io/6xjyv/., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Félix et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Aims: To study the probability of seeking/undergoing aesthetic dental treatment (ADT) and compare self-perception of orofacial appearance (OA) based on sex, age, and monthly income; and to estimate the impact of OA on life satisfaction (LS) among Finnish and Brazilian adults, considering the indirect effect of receiving ADT and the moderating effects of those sociodemographic variables., Methods: This was an online cross-sectional study. Orofacial Esthetic Scale (OES), Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ) and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) were used. Probability of seeking/receiving ADT was calculated using logistic regression and odds ratio (OR). OA scores were compared according to sociodemographic characteristics (ANOVA, α = 5%). Structural equations models estimated the impact of OA on LS., Results: 3,614 Finns [75.1% female, 32.0 (SD = 11.6) years] and 3,979 Brazilians [69.9% female, 33.0 (SD = 11.3) years] participated in the study. Women were more likely to receive ADT than men in both countries (OR>1.3). However, no statistically or practical significant differences were observed in OA between sexes (p>0.05 or p<0.05, ηp2 = 0.00-0.02). In Finland, demand for ADT (OR = 0.9-1.0) and OA scores (p>0.05) were the same among different ages and monthly income. In Brazil, younger individuals (OR>1.6) and those with higher monthly income (OR>2.7) were more likely to receive ADT, while those with lower income had a greater psychosocial impact of OA (p<0.05; ηp2>0.07). Individuals who were more satisfied with their own OA and had less psychosocial impact from OA had higher levels of LS (β = 0.31-0.34; p<0.01; explained variance: 9.8-13.1%)., Conclusion: Demand for ADT is influenced by sociodemographic and cultural factors. Greater societal pressure on physical appearance is observed among women in Western countries. In countries with high socioeconomic inequalities, consumerism and social prestige are involved in this demand. Self-perception of orofacial appearance plays a significant role in individuals' subjective well-being. Therefore, the planning of aesthetic treatments in the orofacial region should consider the patient's perceptions and social context., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Campos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Visual snow is a condition of unclear prevalence characterized by tiny flickering dots throughout the entire visual field. It appears to result from visual cortex hyperactivity and possibly correlates with propensity to be engrossed in sensory and imaginary experiences (absorption). The prevalence and correlates of visual snow, and emotional reactions to it, were explored in the general Portuguese population with three studies with online surveys. In Study 1, 564 participants were shown an animated graphic simulation of visual snow and asked to rate how frequently they have similar percepts on a scale anchored by 0% and 100% of their waking time. They also reported their degree of distress and fascination resulting from visual snow. Absorption was measured with the Modified Tellegen Absorption Scale. 44% of respondents reported they see visual snow at least 10% of the time, and 20% reported seeing it between 80% and 100% of the time. Similar to findings in clinical samples, the frequency of visual snow correlated with tinnitus frequency and entoptic phenomena, but not with ophthalmologic problems. It was confirmed that visual snow is related to absorption. Although distress caused by visual snow was generally absent or minimal in our samples, a substantial minority (28%) reported moderate to high levels of distress. High fascination with visual snow was reported by 9%. In Studies 2 and 3, visual snow was measured by means of verbal descriptions without graphic simulation ("visual field full of tiny dots of light" and "world seen with many dots of light", respectively). The results were similar to those in Study 1, but seeing visual snow 80%-100% of the time was less frequent (6.5% in Study 2 and 3.6% in Study 3). Visual snow has been insufficiently investigated. More research is needed to uncover underlying neurophysiological mechanisms and psychological and behavioral correlates., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2022 Costa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Aims: 1. to elaborate a general model of physical appearance taking into account body image (BI) and orofacial appearance (OA) components; and 2. to evaluate the impact of BI and OA on life satisfaction among Brazilian adults., Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study. The cognitive, behavioral, affective, and satisfaction/dissatisfaction aspects of BI, the satisfaction and psychosocial impact of OA, and life satisfaction were evaluated by self-reported psychometric scales. Principal Component Analysis and Parallel Analysis were performed. Structural equation models were elaborated to estimate the impact of BI and OA on life satisfaction. The fit of the models was verified and the significance of the path estimates (β) was evaluated using z-tests (α = 5%)., Results: A total of 1,940 individuals participated in the study (age: mean = 24.8, standard deviation = 5.7 years; females = 70.1%). In the male sample, three physical appearance factors were retained (OA, cognitive and behavioral components of BI, and affective and satisfaction/dissatisfaction components of BI). In the female sample, two factors were retained (OA and all components of BI). All factors had significant impact on life satisfaction (β = |0.26|-|0.48|, p&lt;0.001) in both samples. Individuals dissatisfied with BI and OA had lower levels of life satisfaction. For men, the affective and satisfaction components of BI had a greater impact on life satisfaction (β = 0.48, p&lt;0.001) than the other factors (β =] -0.30;-0.25[, p&lt;0.001). For women, both BI and OA had a similar impact (BI: β = -0.30, p&lt;0.001; OA: β = -0.32, p&lt;0.001)., Conclusion: BI and OA formed distinct clusters in the physical appearance evaluation. Physical appearance was perceived differently by men and women, fostering discussion about the sociocultural construction of the body. BI and OA had a significant impact on life satisfaction and should be considered in assessment and treatment protocols., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2022 Campos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Recent evidence suggests that both personality traits (PT) and emotion regulation (ER) strategies play an important role in the way people cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was two folded. First, to longitudinally investigate the psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress levels) taking in consideration PT and ER strategies in 3 different moments: during the first lockdown period (April/20), at the first deconfinement (May/20) and 1-month after the first deconfinement (Jun/20)-Experiment I. Second, to cross-sectionally evaluate the impact of the pandemic in psychological distress and the correlates with PT and ER 6-months after the first deconfinement November/20 to February/21 -Experiment II. A total of 722 volunteers (Experiment I = 180; Experiment II = 542) aged 18 years or older participated in this online survey. The findings from Experiment I show that psychological distress decreased after the lockdown period, however, neuroticism traits predicted higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, while difficulties in ER strategies were identified as a risk factor for depression and stress. For experiment II, neuroticism traits and being infected with COVID-19 were associated to higher levels of symptomatology, while unemployment and the use of emotional suppression strategies to cope with emotional situations were associated to depressive and anxiety symptoms. Although the psychological impact of the COVID-19 outbreak decreased over time in our sample, the current findings suggest that difficulties in emotional regulation and high levels of neuroticism traits might be potential risk factors for psychiatric symptomatology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, people with difficulties in ER and neuroticism traits would benefit from psychological interventions that provide personality-appropriate support and promote emotion regulation skills during stressful events, such as the case of the global pandemic., Competing Interests: NO authors have competing interests.

The assessment of mal-adaptive anxiety is crucial, considering the associated personal, economic, and societal burden. The State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety (STICSA) is a self-report instrument developed to provide multidimensional anxiety assessment in four dimensions: trait-cognitive, trait-somatic, state-cognitive and state-somatic. This research aimed to extend STICSA's psychometric studies through the assessment of its dimensionality, reliability, measurement invariance and nomological validity in the Portuguese population. Additionally, the predictive validity of STICSA-Trait was also evaluated, through the analysis of the relationship between self-reported trait anxiety and both the subjective and the psychophysiological response across distinct emotional situations. Similarly to previous studies, results supported both a four-factor and two separated bi-factor structures. Measurement invariance across sex groups was also supported, and good nomological validity was observed. Moreover, STICSA trait-cognitive dimension was associated with differences in self-reported arousal between groups of high/low anxiety, whereas STICSA trait-somatic dimension was related to differences in both the subjective and psychophysiological response. Together, these results support STICSA as a useful instrument for a broader anxiety assessment, crucial for an informed diagnosis and practice., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shaped higher education and seen the distinct rise of e-learning as a compulsory element of the modern educational landscape. Accordingly, this study highlights the factors which have influenced how students perceive their academic performance during this emergency changeover to e-learning. The empirical analysis is performed on a sample of 10,092 higher education students from 10 countries across 4 continents during the pandemic's first wave through an online survey. A structural equation model revealed the quality of e-learning was mainly derived from service quality, the teacher's active role in the process of online education, and the overall system quality, while the students' digital competencies and online interactions with their colleagues and teachers were considered to be slightly less important factors. The impact of e-learning quality on the students' performance was strongly mediated by their satisfaction with e-learning. In general, the model gave quite consistent results across countries, gender, study fields, and levels of study. The findings provide a basis for policy recommendations to support decision-makers incorporate e-learning issues in the current and any new similar circumstances., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

There is lack of research on effects of red wine on consciousness when drank in wine bars designed to enhance the pleasurableness of the wine drinking experience. Effects of a moderate dose of red wine (≈ 40.98 g of ethanol) on consciousness were examined in a naturalistic study taking place in a wine bar located in one of the most touristic areas of Lisbon, Portugal. One hundred two participants drank in one of three conditions: alone, in dyad, or in groups up to six people. Red wine increased pleasure and arousal, decreased the awareness of time, slowed the subjective passage of time, increased the attentional focus on the present moment, decreased body awareness, slowed thought speed, turned imagination more vivid, and made the environment become more fascinating. Red wine increased insightfulness and originality of thoughts, increased sensations of oneness with the environment, spiritual feelings, all-encompassing love, and profound peace. All changes in consciousness occurred regardless of volunteers drinking alone, in dyad or in group. Men and women did not report different changes in consciousness. Older age correlated with greater increases in pleasure. Younger age correlated with greater increases in fascination with the environment of the wine bar. Drinking wine in a contemporaneous Western environment designed to enhance the pleasurableness of the wine drinking experience may trigger changes in consciousness commonly associated with mystical-type states., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Openness toward organizational change is central to employees' responses to organizations' strategic actions. This study aims to assess the validity evidence of the Openness Toward Organizational Change Scale (OTOCS) by examining the internal structure of the measure (e.g., dimensionality, reliability, measurement invariance) and its relations with other variables such as quality of work life, burnout, job satisfaction, and work engagement. A cross-sectional study was conducted using total sample of 1,175 workers, with 565 workers from Portugal and 610 from Brazil. The data provided satisfactory validity evidence based on the internal structure: the expected dimensionality was confirmed, acceptable levels of reliability were found, and measurement invariance was achieved among countries and sex. The measure also demonstrated satisfactory validity evidence based on the relations to other variables, being negatively associated with burnout and positively associated with work engagement, job satisfaction and quality of work. The OTOCS proved to be a relatively short self-report measure with satisfactory validity evidence to be used among Brazilian and Portuguese workers., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

In this study we modelled possible causes and consequences of student burnout and engagement on academic efficacy and dropout intention in university students. Further we asked, can student engagement protect against the effects of burnout? In total 4,061 university students from Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Finland, Serbia, and Macao SAR, Taiwan participated in this study. With the data collected we analyzed the influence of Social Support, Coping Strategies, and school/course related variables on student engagement and burnout using structural equation modeling. We also analyzed the effect of student engagement, student burnout, and their interaction, on Academic Performance and Dropout Intention. We found that both student engagement and burnout are good predictors of subjective academic performance and dropout intention. However, student burnout suppresses the effect of student engagement on these variables. This result has strong implications for practitioners and administrators. To prevent student dropout, it is not enough to promote student engagement-additionally, and importantly, levels of student burnout must be kept low. Other variables such as social support and coping strategies are also relevant predictors of student engagement and burnout and should be considered when implementing preventive actions, self-help and guided intervention programs for college students., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Consumer products are widely used as stimuli across several research fields. The use of consumer products as experimental stimuli lacks, however, the support of normative data regarding product features variability. In this work, we provide a first set of norms for people's perceptions of 150 consumer products regarding six relevant dimensions: product perceived complexity, quality objectivity, material/experiential nature, perceived price, familiarity and attitude. Products available in this normative database showed good overall distribution across the range of the dimensions evaluated. Obtained correlations between some of these dimensions provided evidence of how they can be confounded across products, further justifying the need to control for these dimensions. These norms should aid future research by allowing researchers to select products according to specific attributes and achieve appropriate experimental control. The norms here provided should also aid consumer behavior practitioners (such as marketers and advertisers) by providing insights as to how consumers perceive products along relevant dimensions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Job satisfaction is an important construct that is known to be associated with workers' performance and wellbeing. As such, to properly measure it, one must use adapted measures that show adequate validity evidence for the desired context. Such measures should preferably be short to allow the parsimonious use of various measures/constructs in the same data collection. The aim of this paper is to adapt the Portuguese version for Brazil and Portugal of the Short Index of Job Satisfaction (SIJS). The SIJS is a psychometric instrument that measures job satisfaction through five items. A cross-sectional study was conducted with two multi-occupational workers samples, one from Brazil (n = 599) and one other from Portugal (n = 572). The SIJS presented good validity evidence based on its internal structure, namely dimensionality, reliability, and measurement invariance across countries and sexes. It also revealed to be positively correlated with work engagement, and quality of work life (convergent evidence). It also has shown to be negatively associated with burnout (discriminant evidence). The SIJS showed promising validity evidence. The SIJS can be useful to be used together with other instruments, due to its small number of items, producing data with good psychometric properties., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

A long-standing goal shared by researchers has been to design optimal experimental procedures, including the selection of appropriate stimuli. Pictures are commonly used in different research fields. However, until recently, researchers have relied mostly on line-drawings, which can have poor ecological validity. We developed a set of high quality standardized photographs of objects from six different categories, recorded under two camera viewpoints, and five presentation conditions (on its own, held by clean hands, and by hands covered with different substances: sauce, chocolate and mud). These various staging conditions can be used to induce different emotional states while maintaining the object of interest constant. We first report normative data on the objects' name agreement and familiarity collected from North American and Portuguese participants. Results showed high name agreement and familiarity in both samples. Next, arousal, disgust and valence ratings were collected for the stimuli under either an emotional-activating or a neutral context. Subjective ratings varied according to the staging condition and the context, confirming that the same items can effectively be used in different emotional conditions. This database allows researchers to select more ecologically-valid stimuli according to their research purposes while considering several variables of interest and avoiding item-selection problems commonly present when comparing responses to neutral and emotional items., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of inherent aspects of body image, eating behavior and perceived health competence on quality of life of university students. Participants completed the instruments Body Shape Questionnaire (reduced version, BSQ-8B), Male Body Dissatisfaction Scale (reduced version, MBDS-R), Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (reduced version, TFEQ-18), Perceived Health Competence Scale (bifactorial version, PHCS-B), World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-Short Form (WHOQoL-bref) and a questionnaire for characterization of sample. Psychometric properties of instruments were previously evaluated by confirmatory factor analysis. A hypothetical model for each sex was developed and tested. In both model surveys the aspects of the body image (BSQ-8B: body shape concern; MBDS-R: musculature and general body appearance), of eating behavior (TFEQ-18: cognitive restriction, emotional eating, and uncontrolled eating) and of the perceived health competence (PHCS-B: expectations of achieving the desired health results and competence in health behaviors) were used as direct predictors on quality of life (WHOQoL-bref). The variables age, medication use for body change, food supplement use for body change, and body mass index (BMI) were inserted in the aspects of the body image. The variables course shift, initial expectation regarding the course, self-reported performance in the course, concomitant work activities to studies, and economic class were inserted into the quality of life. The model surveys were evaluated using structural equation modeling. A level of significance of 5% was used. A total of 2,198 university students (female = 63.5%), including 1,151 Brazilians and 1,047 Portuguese, participated of study (locally representative samples). The average age of women was 20.8 ± 2.4 years and of men was 21.3 ± 3.3 years. The psychometric properties of the instruments were adequate, except for the PHCS, which was adjusted for each sex. The models presented variance explained of 54% and 49% for women and men, respectively. In both sexes, the students' perceived health competence and academic variables contributed significantly to their quality of life, and age, BMI, and medication and supplement use were significant factors relating to how a student views his or her body image. Women's quality of life was associated with body shape concern and emotional eating aspects. Men's quality of life was associated with general body appearance and cognitive restriction aspects. These results can be used to create and implement educational programs to improve quality of life of university students., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Body weight concerns are common among individuals with eating disorders, and this construct can be assessed using psychometric instruments. The Weight Concerns Scale (WCS) is commonly used to assess body weight concerns., Aims: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the WCS with Brazilian, Portuguese, and Mozambican female college students; to estimate body weight concerns; and to identify factors related to eating disorders., Methods: Confirmatory factor analysis was performed. Factorial, convergent, concurrent, and divergent validity, as well as reliability, were assessed. Cross-national invariance was tested by means of multigroup analysis. Structural models were tested using the WCS as the dependent variable, while demographic and academic variables and body mass index were used as independent variables. Logistic models were tested to estimate the likelihood of eating disorders being developed in specific groups., Results: Participants were 2,068 female students. The psychometric properties of the WCS were adequate for the Portuguese sample; however, for the Brazilian and Mozambican samples, it was necessary to correlate the errors of two items to improve model fit. The WCS did not show cross-national invariance. The variables "thoughts about dropping out of college," "medication use because of studies," "medication and supplements use for body change," "body mass index," "socioeconomic status," "age," and "performance in course" were significant predictors of body weight concerns. Overall, 24.4% (95% confidence interval = 22.9-26.7) of the students were likely to develop eating disorders. Students under 21 years old, who use medication and supplements for body change, and who were classified as overweight/obese have increased likelihood of developing eating disorders., Conclusion: The WCS showed good psychometric properties with Brazilian, Portuguese, and Mozambican students; however, it did not show cross-national invariance. We identified important aspects for investigating body weight concerns and factors related to eating disorders.

Recent theoretical contributions have suggested a theory of leadership that is grounded in complexity theory, hence regarding leadership as a complex process (i.e., nonlinear; emergent). This article tests if complexity leadership theory promotes efficiency in work groups. 40 groups of five participants each had to complete four decision making tasks using the city simulation game SimCity4. Before engaging in the four decision making tasks, participants received information regarding what sort of leadership behaviors were more adequate to help them perform better. Results suggest that if complexity leadership theory is applied, groups can achieve higher efficiency over time, when compared with other groups where complexity leadership is not applied. This study goes beyond traditional views of leadership as a centralized form of control, and presents new evidence suggesting that leadership is a collective and emergent phenomenon, anchored in simple rules of behavior., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This paper tests the hypothesis that social presence influences size perception by increasing context sensitivity. Consistent with Allport's prediction, we expected to find greater context sensitivity in participants who perform a visual task in the presence of other people (i.e., in co-action) than in participants who perform the task in isolation. Supporting this hypothesis, participants performing an Ebbinghaus illusion-based task in co-action showed greater size illusions than those performing the task in isolation. Specifically, participants in a social context had greater difficulty perceiving the correct size of a target circle and ignoring its surroundings. Analyses of delta plot functions suggest a mechanism of interference monitoring, since that when individuals take longer to respond, they are better able to ignore the surrounding circles. However, this type of monitoring interference was not moderated by social presence. We discuss how this lack of moderation might be the reason why the impact of social presence on context sensitivity is able to be detected in tasks such as the Ebbinghaus illusion.

Recent studies of school-age children and adolescents have used social network analyses to characterize selection and socialization aspects of peer groups. Fewer network studies have been reported for preschool classrooms and many of those have focused on structural descriptions of peer networks, and/or, on selection processes rather than on social functions of subgroup membership. In this study we started by identifying and describing different types of affiliative subgroups (HMP- high mutual proximity, LMP- low mutual proximity, and ungrouped children) in a sample of 240 Portuguese preschool children using nearest neighbor observations. Next, we used additional behavioral observations and sociometric data to show that HMP and LMP subgroups are functionally distinct: HMP subgroups appear to reflect friendship relations, whereas LMP subgroups appear to reflect common social goals, but without strong, within-subgroup dyadic ties. Finally, we examined the longitudinal implications of subgroup membership and show that children classified as HMP in consecutive years had more reciprocated friendships than did children whose subgroup classification changed from LMP or ungrouped to HMP. These results extend previous findings reported for North American peer groups.