A disturbance in body image is generally recognised as central to the eating disorders. Although misperception of body size has been examined extensively in anorexia nervosa, there has been no satisfactory study of a disturbance in body size perception in relation to the eating disorder bulimia nervosa. In addition, concern about body shape, which also constitutes an important aspect of body image disturbance, has received little systematic research attention, probably because there has been no satisfactory measure of this concern. A series of studies was conducted which aimed to overcome the problems and limitations associated with the research on body image. The significance of body image disturbance was investigated among patients with bulimia nervosa; and similar disturbances among women in the community were evaluated. A measure of concern with shape, the <i>Body Shape Questionnaire</i>, was developed and validated. The responses of a large series of patients with bulimia nervosa were obtained, and the relationship between concern with shape and other clinical variables was investigated. A particularly high level of such concern in these patients was found to be associated with markedly disturbed eating behaviour and a high level of general psychological disturbance, most notably depressed mood and self-depreciation. Body size perception in bulimia nervosa was also investigated. Using an image distortion method, the patients were found to overestimate their size significantly more than a control group, and were markedly more dissatisfied with their body size. Similar to concern with shape, disturbances in body size perception were found to be associated with disturbed eating behaviour and a high level of psychological disturbance. Among a sub-sample of patients who received treatment, both aspects of body image disturbance were found to improve; and changes in body image were closely related to improvements in eating habits and attitudes and were accompanied by a concurrent improvement in mood. Some women in the community were found to show disturbances in body image similar to those found in the patients with bulimia nervosa. A series of studies was conducted to identify factors related to these disturbances. A high level of concern with shape was found to emerge at a young age, and was associated with a number of factors which have also been established as significant in patients with eating disorders; notably disturbed eating habits and attitudes and depressed mood. For the subgroup of women in whom concern with shape was found to be labile, changes in these concerns were found to co-vary with mood. As in patients with eating disorders, among women in the community a disturbance in body size perception was found to be closely related to depressed mood and concern with shape; and some evidence was found to support the hypothesis that depressed mood may exacerbate disturbances in body size perception, particularly in the context of a high level of concern with shape. The series of studies has demonstrated that patients with bulimia nervosa show a disturbance in body image; that such disturbance is meaningfully related to other features of the eating disorder; and that similar features also predict such disturbance among women in the community with no syndromal eating disorder. In these studies of body image disturbance in patients with bulimia nervosa, patients with anorexia nervosa and women in the community, a consistent finding was that depressed mood was strongly predictive of such disturbance. The research has implications for the understanding of the psychopathology of eating disorders and possibly for the treatment of body image disturbance as it arises in these conditions.

Body size affects rates of most biological and ecological processes, from individual performance to ecosystem function. Within species, emergent body size patterns have been formalised into prominent biogeographical and biological rules, including James' Rule (larger individuals are found at higher, colder latitudes), and the Temperature-Size Rule (individuals reared in warmer conditions grow to a smaller adult size). Body size also varies seasonally and with altitude. Yet, the patterns and drivers of these size gradients, and the degree to which they co-vary and share explanatory mechanisms, have never been systematically evaluated. We undertake the most comprehensive metaanalyses to date of temperature- and biogeographical-size clines within arthropod species. Aquatic species show greater reductions in body size with warming and decreasing latitude compared to terrestrial species, likely an adaptive response to deal with increased metabolic demand in the warm and the greater difficulty to uptake oxygen in water than in air. Voltinism explains variation in laboratory temperature- and latitudinal-size clines in terrestrial species. While size decreases with warming and with decreasing latitude in multivoltine terrestrial arthropods, size increases on average in univoltine species, consistent with predictions from size vs. season-length trade-offs. In the globally distributed sub-class Copepoda, seasonal temperature-size (T-S) gradients differ between current-feeding calanoids and ambush-feeding cyclopoids, suggesting that differences in the size- and temperature-dependence of alternative feeding strategies may influence the T-S response. Finally, through experimentation, we explore the progression of the T-S response of Copepoda during ontogeny. The T-S response is more strongly generated in particular life stages, and even reduced in some periods, providing evidence that the temperature-dependence of growth and developmental rates is modified during ontogeny. Ultimately, close similarities between T-S responses measured in controlled laboratory conditions, and seasonal and biogeographical size clines in the field across different arthropod taxa, suggests that these patterns share similar selective pressures.

No description available.

Thesis (Honors)--Liberty University Honors Program, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available through Liberty University's Digital Commons.

Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-71). Also available in print.

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

When human skeletal remains are found in prehistoric, historic, or forensic contexts, establishing age at death is an important step in reconstructing life histories, building demographic profiles, and identifying victims. Reliability for adult skeletal age estimations is generally lower than ideal, especially for individuals over the age of 40 years. A factor rarely considered in age estimation is that of body size; namely, how individuals of varying body sizes experience skeletal aging. This thesis explores the variables of BMI, stature, and body mass to quantify the influence of error from body size on adult skeletal age estimates. Eight age estimation methods were tested on 764 adult skeletons from the Hamann-Todd and William Bass Collections. These individuals were documented to have ranged in stature from 1.30m to 1.93m and body mass from 24.0kg to 99.8kg. Each age estimation method was evaluated separately. Analyses show that underweight individuals have the most error associated with their age estimations for all methods. All methods under-age underweight individuals by 5 to 15 years compared to average and obese individuals. The Kunos et al. method is the most reliable rib method, and the Lovejoy et al. and Suchey-Brooks methods are the most reliable pelvic methods. The İşcan et al. fourth rib method under-ages individuals by the highest degree compared to all other methods. The DiGangi et al. method is the most unreliable method with low accuracy (over twenty years) and high bias scores (under-aging individuals by almost 20 years). Body mass has a stronger influence on age estimation than stature. Studies have shown that body mass has a strong impact on bone resorption and remodelling rates, regardless of nutrition, and that tissue type (i.e. fat vs. muscle), physical activity, and mechanical loading influence bone remodelling. Skeletal remains of underweight individuals have fewer age markers while obese individuals show an increase in surface texture degeneration and osteophytic lipping. This is the first study to show that body size influences skeletal age estimation, and that age estimations are significantly different between weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing joints.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: John Kappelman. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

No description available.