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Objective: No published studies have examined childhood abuse and neglect in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). This study examined the prevalence and clinical correlates of abuse and neglect in individuals with this disorder., Methods: Seventy-five subjects (69.3% female, mean age=35.4+/-12.0) with DSM-IV BDD completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and were interviewed with other reliable and valid measures., Results: Of these subjects, 78.7% reported a history of childhood maltreatment: emotional neglect (68.0%), emotional abuse (56.0%), physical abuse (34.7%), physical neglect (33.3%), and sexual abuse (28.0%). Forty percent of subjects reported severe maltreatment. Among females (n=52), severity of reported abuse and neglect were .32-.57 standard deviation units higher than norms for a health maintenance organization (HMO) sample of women. Severity of sexual abuse was the only type of maltreatment significantly associated with current BDD severity (r=.23, p=.047). However, severity of sexual abuse did not predict current BDD severity in a simultaneous multiple regression analysis with age and current treatment status. There were other significant associations with childhood maltreatment: history of attempted suicide was related to emotional (p=.004), physical (p=.014), and sexual abuse (p=.038). Childhood emotional abuse was associated with a lifetime substance use disorder (r=.26, p=.02), and physical abuse was negatively associated with a lifetime mood disorder (r=-.37, p=.001)., Conclusions: A high proportion of individuals with BDD reported childhood abuse and neglect. Certain types of abuse and neglect appear modestly associated with BDD symptom severity and with gender, suicidality, and certain disorders.

Muscle dysmorphia - a pathological preoccupation with muscularity - appears to be a form of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) with a focus on muscularity. However, little is known about muscle dysmorphia in men with BDD, and no study has compared men with BDD who do and do not report muscle dysmorphia. To explore this issue, we reviewed the histories of 63 men with BDD; we compared those rated as having a history of muscle dysmorphia with those who had BDD but not muscle dysmorphia in several domains. The 14 men with muscle dysmorphia resembled the 49 comparison men in demographic features, BDD severity, delusionality, and number of non-muscle-related body parts of concern. However, those with muscle dysmorphia were more likely to have attempted suicide, had poorer quality of life, and had a higher frequency of any substance use disorder and anabolic steroid abuse. Thus, muscle dysmorphia was associated with greater psychopathology.

The mean lifetime of gramicidin A channels in bilayers formed from monoolein and squalane was sharply reduced by the absorption of a range of n-alkanols and cholesterol. Results are shown for n-hexanol, n-octanol, n-decanol, n-dodecanol, n-tetradecanol, n-hexadecanol, n-octadecanol and cholesterol. The longer chain n-alkanols were apparently more effective than the shorter members and cholesterol was the most effective of the substances examined. The single channel conductance was also affected, though to a much lesser extent than the mean channel lifetime, the n-alkanols producing increases and cholesterol a decrease. It is suggested that membrane fluidity changes are not likely to be primarily responsible for the reductions in channel lifetimes but that the bilayer tension, which is known to be increased by n-octanol, could be significant.

The osmotic pressure of beef sternomandibularis and psoas muscles ranged from 480 to 540 mOs, which is almost twice that of pre-rigor muscle (about 300 mOs). The post-rigor osmotic pressure appears to be satisfactorily explained by the low molecular weight components. Muscle samples were soaked at 2°C for 24 h in various solutions and sample weight changes were recorded. Samples soaked in buffered mannitol solutions exhibited weight changes indicative of predictable osmotic behaviour. Those samples soaked in buffered salt solutions (KCl, NaCl), however, exhibited dramatic increases in weight, irrespective of the solute concentration. The reasons for this are not clear. These results indicative that the use of salt solutions, such as 0·15 m KCl, for studies on post-rigor muscle is suspect and conclusions from such studies may be unfounded., (Copyright © 1981. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)