Physical Appearance Research Articles

Development and Evaluation of Topical Herbal Formulation for Infectious Eczema

The study Development and Evaluation of Topical Herbal Formulation for Infectious Eczema presents a comprehensive investigation into the preparation and assessment of a herbal gel aimed at addressing infectious eczema. The research methodology involved meticulous plant collection, extraction, and subsequent physicochemical and phytochemical analyses. Murraya koenigli leaves were collected, identified, dried, and ground into a fine powder before undergoing successive extraction with solvents of increasing polarity. The resulting extracts were concentrated and stored for future use. Physicochemical constants of the powdered drug were determined, including moisture content, total ash value, and extractive values, providing insights into the composition and quality of the herbal material. Preliminary phytochemical evaluations were conducted to identify the presence of specific phytoconstituents such as alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, phenols, and triterpenoids. These evaluations involved various qualitative tests, each confirming the presence of specific compounds indicative of potential bioactivity. Subsequently, a herbal gel was formulated using the plant extract and Carbopol-934 as a gelling agent, along with other excipients. The gel formulations were evaluated for pH, spreadability, extrudability, and stability over time. Results indicated suitable pH values, spreadability, and extrudability across different formulations, suggesting their potential for dermatological applications. Stability studies demonstrated consistent physical appearance, rheological properties, spreadability, pH, and drug levels over a one-month period, affirming the formulations' stability and therapeutic potential. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the development of effective herbal formulations for managing infectious eczema, contributing to the advancement of natural-based therapies in dermatology and offering promising avenues for further research and clinical application

Phenome-wide identification of therapeutic genetic targets, leveraging knowledge graphs, graph neural networks, and UK Biobank data.

The ongoing expansion of human genomic datasets propels therapeutic target identification; however, extracting gene-disease associations from gene annotations remains challenging. Here, we introduce Mantis-ML 2.0, a framework integrating AstraZeneca's Biological Insights Knowledge Graph and numerous tabular datasets, to assess gene-disease probabilities throughout the phenome. We use graph neural networks, capturing the graph's holistic structure, and train them on hundreds of balanced datasets via a robust semi-supervised learning framework to provide gene-disease probabilities across the human exome. Mantis-ML 2.0 incorporates natural language processing to automate disease-relevant feature selection for thousands of diseases. The enhanced models demonstrate a 6.9% average classification power boost, achieving a median receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under curve (AUC) score of 0.90 across 5220 diseases from Human Phenotype Ontology, OpenTargets, and Genomics England. Notably, Mantis-ML 2.0 prioritizes associations from an independent UK Biobank phenome-wide association study (PheWAS), providing a stronger form of triaging and mitigating against underpowered PheWAS associations. Results are exposed through an interactive web resource.

Significance loss brings to extreme self-care related behaviors: the role of interpersonal influence and obsessive (vs. harmonious) passion

Building on Significance Quest Theory we hypothesized that significance loss feelings can bring people to extreme self-care related behaviors via (a) the susceptibility to interpersonal influence, and (b) the development of a predominance of obsessive (vs. harmonious) passion toward the self-care. To test these hypotheses, we ran one cross-sectional study among voluntary participants (N = 401). Results confirmed our hypotheses, suggesting that physical appearance is perceived as a fruitful and useful route to maintain or even restoring ones’ personal sense of significance. Notably, these results shed light on another scope that can be exploited to achieve social significance (i.e., physical appearance) through extremism, and could represent a starting point to design practical intervention to reduce the examined extreme behaviors.

Unraveling the Genetic Basis of Combined Deafness and Male Infertility Phenotypes through High‐Throughput Sequencing in a Unique Cohort from South India

AbstractThe co‐occurrence of sensorineural hearing loss and male infertility has been reported in several instances, suggesting potential shared genetic underpinnings. One such example is the contiguous gene deletion of CATSPER2 and STRC genes, previously associated with deafness‐infertility syndrome (DIS) in males. Fifteen males with both hearing loss and infertility from southern India after exclusion for the DIS contiguous gene deletion and the FOXI1 gene mutations are subjected to exome sequencing. This resolves the genetic etiology in four probands for both the phenotypes; In the remaining 11 probands, two each conclusively accounted for deafness and male infertility etiologies. Genetic heterogeneity is well reflected in both phenotypes. Four recessive (TRIOBP, SLC26A4, GJB2, COL4A3) and one dominant (SOX10) for the deafness; six recessive genes (LRGUK, DNAH9, ARMC4, DNAH2, RSPH6A, and ACE) for male infertility can be conclusively ascribed. LRGUK and RSPH6A genes are implicated earlier only in mice models, while the ARMC4 gene is implicated in chronic destructive airway diseases due to primary ciliary dyskinesia. This study would be the first to document the role of these genes in the male infertility phenotype in humans. The result suggests that deafness and infertility are independent events and do not segregate together among the probands.

Assessing child satisfaction and expectations for developing a child-friendly environment at the pediatric department in a general hospital in Qatar

Background“Patient-centered” care positions the patient at the core and emphasizes fulfilling their unique needs, preferences, and values. This approach is particularly significant in the context of children. Although widely recognized as necessary, this approach is not universally implemented. The children find themselves in hospital wards where they are required to follow protocols and systems designed primarily for adults. In the appropriate atmosphere, children often express themselves more effectively through words, body language, and play, leading to a richer understanding of their needs. There is growing recognition of the importance of addressing children's concerns regarding hospital environments.AimThis study investigates children's satisfaction with the physical aspect of the hospital environment. Insights from this exploration could provide valuable input for creating hospital environments centered around children's needs and preferences.MethodsThis mixed-methods study involves children aged 6–14 years with parental consent from a premiere healthcare provider in the state of Qatar. The survey used nine items to gauge satisfaction with the existing hospital environment as a “child-friendly hospital” and another nine items to explore their expectations for such environments. The Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests as well as thematic analyses were employed to assess the statistical significance of differences in satisfaction levels and children's expectations of the hospital's physical environment.ResultsA total of 398 children participated in the study. Of them, 40.3% were aged 6–8 years; 60.3% had experienced two to five hospital visits; 55.8% of children participated during their outpatient service visit; and 31.7% were Asian. Children's satisfaction levels with various aspects of the hospital environment—including its physical appearance, signage, lounge, consultant rooms, corridors, bedrooms, TV content, toys, and staff uniforms—were in the range of 42.9%–59%. The children expressed a desire for a hospital environment that is spacious, colorful, attractive, and filled with cartoon characters and toys in the children's hospital from the front lounge to the inpatient units.ConclusionThe findings underline the importance of considering the perspectives of children in evidence-based healthcare design. The study reveals that children's satisfaction with the hospital environment is generally average or below average. Ultimately, a “child-friendly hospital environment” integrates children's rights into healthcare to significantly improve outcomes.

Between lookism and bodily capital: Understanding female personal trainers’ appearance in occupational socialization

Witnessing that the appearance of female trainers has been regarded as a potential cause of appearance-based discrimination and a source of bodily capital, this study examined the influence of female trainers’ appearance on the process of occupational socialization. We invited eight research participants for in-depth interviews, including female trainers, Pilates instructors, and male fitness center owners with training experience. We followed the grounded theory analysis method to derive meaningful insights from the collected data. The results indicate that the physical appearance of female trainers had various effects on their perceived value as bodily capital during the preparatory and adaptation periods. However, it became a constraining factor during the conflict period as they experienced bodily changes in their late 20s. Eventually, their physical appearance hindered female trainers from maintaining their careers and decreased the percentage of female trainers who reached maturity period. Ultimately, the culture of lookism had a mixed impact on women's occupational socialization, revealing its discriminatory undertones. Although some women profited from the culture, lookism disadvantaged others. Finally, we suggested that a possible solution would be the enactment of the anti-discrimination law for better protection.

Modeling of age-related neurological disease: utility of zebrafish

Many age-related neurological diseases still lack effective treatments, making their understanding a critical and urgent issue in the globally aging society. To overcome this challenge, an animal model that accurately mimics these diseases is essential. To date, many mouse models have been developed to induce age-related neurological diseases through genetic manipulation or drug administration. These models help in understanding disease mechanisms and finding potential therapeutic targets. However, some age-related neurological diseases cannot be fully replicated in human pathology due to the different aspects between humans and mice. Although zebrafish has recently come into focus as a promising model for studying aging, there are few genetic zebrafish models of the age-related neurological disease. This review compares the aging phenotypes of humans, mice, and zebrafish, and provides an overview of age-related neurological diseases that can be mimicked in mouse models and those that cannot. We presented the possibility that reproducing human cerebral small vessel diseases during aging might be difficult in mice, and zebrafish has potential to be another animal model of such diseases due to their similarity of aging phenotype to humans.

A Missense Variant in HACE1 Is Associated with Intellectual Disability, Epilepsy, Spasticity, and Psychomotor Impairment in a Pakistani Kindred

Intellectual disability (ID), which affects around 2% to 3% of the population, accounts for 0.63% of the overall prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). ID is characterized by limitations in a person’s intellectual and adaptive functioning, and is caused by pathogenic variants in more than 1000 genes. Here, we report a rare missense variant (c.350T>C; p.(Leu117Ser)) in HACE1 segregating with NDD syndrome with clinical features including ID, epilepsy, spasticity, global developmental delay, and psychomotor impairment in two siblings of a consanguineous Pakistani kindred. HACE1 encodes a HECT domain and ankyrin repeat containing E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1 (HACE1), which is involved in protein ubiquitination, localization, and cell division. HACE1 is also predicted to interact with several proteins that have been previously implicated in the ID phenotype in humans. The p.(Leu117Ser) variant replaces an evolutionarily conserved residue of HACE1 and is predicted to be deleterious by various in silico algorithms. Previously, eleven protein truncating variants of HACE1 have been reported in individuals with NDD. However, to our knowledge, p.(Leu117Ser) is the second missense variant in HACE1 found in an individual with NDD.

Abstract PO5-11-03: Associations among BMI and patient-reported body image dissatisfaction after breast reconstruction

Abstract INTRODUCTION Breast reconstruction surgery helps women restore their physical appearance and contributes to overall well-being. We assessed body image concerns in the context of breast reconstruction using patient-reported outcome measures: Body Image Scale (BIS), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), Appearance Schemas Inventory (ASI-R), and BREAST-Q. Since obesity is known to be associated with body image dissatisfaction1, body size may influence a patient’s adjustment to bodily changes arising from breast cancer and its treatment. Thus, we investigated the associations among BMI and patient-reported body image dissatisfaction after immediate autologous breast reconstruction. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patients undergoing breast reconstruction surgery were enrolled in an IRB approved study from 2011 to 2014 at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Participants (N=44) included patients who underwent immediate autologous (DIEP/TRAM) reconstruction and completed the BIS, BSI, ASI-R, and BREAST-Q, both preoperatively and postoperatively at 12+ months. Descriptive statistics including means, standard deviations, and medians were used to summarize continuous variables, while frequencies and percentages were used to summarize the categorical clinical and demographic characteristics. Univariate analyses were conducted to identify potential factors among preoperative variables for subsequent multivariable regression analysis: age, race, ethnicity, BMI, laterality, BIS, BSI, ASI-R, BREAST-Q psychosocial wellbeing score (PWBS), and BREAST-Q satisfaction with breast score (SWBS). Factors with a t test p-value≤0.2 were considered potential predictive variables for the postoperative dependent variables BIS, BREAST-Q PWBS, and BREAST-Q SWBS. Multivariable linear regression models were used to assess the relationship between the dependent and the selected predictive variables. A multivariable linear regression model was fitted using stepwise selection procedure, and the model with the highest adjusted R-squared value and the lowest Akaike information criterion (AIC) was chosen. All tests were two-sided with p-value< 0.05 considered statistically significant, and for each significant predictor, we report the unstandardized coefficient β. Analyses were performed using SPSS 29.0.0 and SAS 9.4. RESULTS Results from the selected models are summarized in Table 1. Age and BMI were significant predictors for postoperative BIS score. Older patients and those with BMI categorized as overweight and obese tend to feel less dissatisfied with their body image after immediate autologous breast reconstruction compared to patients with healthy BMI. Preoperative BSI anxiety was identified as significant predictor for postoperative BREAST-Q PWBS, i.e., patients with higher preoperative anxiety scores tend to have lower postoperative BREAST-Q PWBS. Preoperative BSI anxiety and laterality were significant predictors for postoperative BREAST-Q SWBS. Patients with higher preoperative anxiety scores tend to be less satisfied with their breasts after immediate autologous reconstruction and patients who underwent unilateral reconstruction tend to be less satisfied with their breasts postoperatively compared to patients with bilateral reconstruction. CONCLUSION Women with higher BMI may experience improved body image after undergoing immediate autologous breast reconstruction, as compared to women with healthy BMI. The use of BIS may provide more insight to plastic surgeons compared to relying solely on the body image correlates provided by the BREAST-Q. Moreover, body image counseling can be beneficial for individuals across all BMI categories, including those with healthy BMI. REFERENCES 1. Weinberger, N.A., et al., Body Dissatisfaction in Individuals with Obesity Compared to Normal-Weight Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Obes Facts, 2016. 9(6): p. 424-441. Table 1: Table for reporting selected multivariable linear regression models; (a) Postoperative BIS with explanatory variables age and BMI category, (b) Postoperative BREAST-Q PWBS with explanatory variable Preoperative BSI anxiety score, (c) Postoperative BREAST-Q SWBS with explanatory variables Preoperative BSI anxiety score and laterality. Citation Format: Sara Bouhali, Nassima Noufail, Tzuan Chen, Mary Catherine Bordes, Greg Reece, Mia Markey, Fatima Merchant, Deepti Chopra. Associations among BMI and patient-reported body image dissatisfaction after breast reconstruction [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO5-11-03.

Abstract PO4-11-05: The “Couples Coping with Cancer Together Program” provides insight into individual’s distress and an opportunity to discuss prognosis in a manner that is normalized as standard of care

Abstract Background: For both the patient and their partner, high levels of cohesion/communication are beneficial to coping with cancer. Prognosis alignment in couples has implications for medical care and end of life planning. The objectives of this study were to: assess areas of psychosocial distress endorsed by the patient and her partner and to determine each individual’s understanding of prognosis. Methods: Women with metastatic breast cancer and their partners completed a couples’ tailored biopsychosocial screening and alignment in perception of prognosis immediately before the initial consultation with a Medical Oncologist. In addition, the couples were offered a standardized couples’ session before the medical consultation, individual couples’ counseling, and a strengths-based group intervention. As a component of biopsychosocial screening, each patient and her partner were asked individually their understanding of the patient’s prognosis as “What is your understanding of the medical situation?” They were asked their understanding of the likelihood of cure with supporting text and percentages provided: 76-100%; 51-75%; 26-50%, or 0-25%. Results: To date 241 women and their partners are included in this analysis. All the patients had metastatic breast cancer and were being evaluated by a Medical Oncologist. The majority of the patients, 67%, were > 50 years of age (Range 18-79years), 85% had an advanced degree (> high school); 93% selected English as their preferred language, and 100% completed the prognosis question. Five of the top 10 causes of distress were shared by the patient and her partner. These included: Feeling anxious or fearful, worry about the future, sleeping, fatigue, and managing multiple demands. Additional concerns of the patient included: side effects of treatment, understanding my treatment options, how my family will cope, fear of medical procedures and physical appearance. The partners endorsed: Best help my partner, losing control, talk about end of life, feeling down and depressed, and finances. The partner understood the prognosis to be more favorable than the patient. Conclusions: It is feasible to introduce a prognosis question for both patient and her partner as standard of care. Given the importance of open communication amongst the patient, partner, and physician regarding advanced care planning, there is the potential to decrease the devastation of decisional regret in both patient and partner. Citation Format: Joanne Mortimer, Kimberly Romig, Claudia Cuevas, Lynne Thomas, James Waisman, Karen Clark, Marianne Razavi, Matthew Loscalzo. The “Couples Coping with Cancer Together Program” provides insight into individual’s distress and an opportunity to discuss prognosis in a manner that is normalized as standard of care [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO4-11-05.

Concerns about fertility, social appearance, and relationships in young adults with polycystic ovary syndrome

ABSTRACT Background Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), affecting 1–11% of reproductive-age women, is characterised by many symptoms that cause important concerns especially in young adults. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the concerns about fertility, social appearance, and relationships in young adults with PCOS. Methodology This descriptive study included 140 young female adults aged 18–26, who were diagnosed with PCOS, agreed to participate in the onlineresearch through social media between July and December 2022 in Turkey. Data were collected using the ’Participant Interview Form’ and the ”Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS). Results The mean age of the participants was 22.1 ± 2.1. As the most common symptoms, 78.6% experienced menstrual irregularities, 16.4% were overweight, 7.1% were obese, 67.1% had hirsutism and 65.7% had acne. Most of the participants expressed concerns about future infertility (72.9%), and worried about being unable to conceive due to PCOS in the future (sometimes = 61.4%). Over eighty percent of the participants expressed some level of dissatisfaction with their physical appearance. They commonly believe that their self-esteem, emotionalstate, social relationships and partner relationships could be negatively affected by PCOS. SAAS scores were significantly increased by low income, high BMI, hirsutism, dissatisfaction with physicalappearance, low self-esteem, emotional problems and concerns related to social and partner relationships (p < 0.05). Conclusion Young adults have common concerns about the potential negative impacts of PCOS on fertility, social appearance, and relationships. Health professionals should be aware of their counselling needs about the possible physical and psycho-social effects of PCOS and provide continuous care and support.

A novel oxidative microwave torrefaction approach for producing empty fruit bunch-starch binder briquettes as a potential biomass-based energy

This study introduced a novel microwave torrefaction (MWT) strategy combining optimal briquetting conditions and oxidative MWT (OMWT) to create briquettes using empty fruit bunch (EFB)-starch binder for enhanced physical and fuel properties. An analysis was conducted to evaluate the impacts of compaction pressure (20–80 MPa), EFB-to-starch binder mixing ratios (90:10, 80:20, and 70:30 by wt%), and drying duration (50–150 mins) on the final moisture content, unit density, and physical properties of the EFB-starch binder briquettes. This study also investigated the influences of heating duration (5–15 mins), microwave (MW) power levels (200–400 W), and oxygen (O2) concentration (0–6 vol%) on the physical and fuel properties of oxidative MW-torrefied EFB-starch binder briquettes. The optimal briquetting parameters were determined using a compaction pressure of 80 MPa, mixing ratio of 80:20 (wt%), and drying duration of 120 mins. Meanwhile, the optimal conditions for the OMWT process to produce satisfactory physical appearance and competitive compressive strength with higher heating value were a heating duration of 10 mins, MW power level of 300 W, and O2 concentration of 6 vol%. Consequently, this process demonstrated an enhanced MWT method using minimal charcoal-activated carbon (C-AC) in an oxidative environment.

Temporal outline of geological heritage sites in the Western Caucasus

Geological heritage sites (geosites) have various properties such as accessibility, geometry, and vulnerability, as well as age. It is reasonable to distinguish the geological ages related to the content of geosites (e.g., Early Ordovician or Valanginian) from the technical ages related to the physical appearance (forms) of geosites (e.g., Late Pleistocene, Prehistoric, or 21st century). This study examines 17 geosites known from the Western Caucasus–a geologically-rich area of the Greater Caucasus orogen. The revision and the update of the stratigraphical information allow to establish their geological ages. The technical ages are defined as old (before the 19th century), historical (19th–20th centuries), or young (the beginning of the 21st century). The results show that the analyzed geosites shed light on the lengthy time span (from the late Proterozoic to the Quaternary), and the Cisuralian–Early Cretaceous sedimentary succession of the study area is represented with significant completeness. Technically, the geosites are chiefly old, although the historical and young features are also common. The outcomes of this study do not only systematize the knowledge of the ages of the geosites from the Western Caucasus, but also have several practical implications (for instance, the conservation of the technically young geosites is the priority, and the geological ages are important to arrange the geosites logically for educational and touristic excursions).

Epigenetics of Fear, Anxiety and Stress - Focus on Histone Modifications.

Fear-, anxiety- and stress-related disorders are among the most frequent mental disorders. Given substantial rates of insufficient treatment response and often a chronic course, a better understanding of the pathomechanisms of fear-, anxiety- and stress-related disorders is urgently warranted. Epigenetic mechanisms such as histone modifications - positioned at the interface between the biological and the environmental level in the complex pathogenesis of mental disorders - might be highly informative in this context. The current state of knowledge on histone modifications, chromatin-related pharmacology and animal models modified for genes involved in the histone-related epigenetic machinery will be reviewed with respect to fear-, anxiety- and stress-related states. Relevant studies, published until 30th June 2022, were identified using a multi-step systematic literature search of the Pub- Med and Web of Science databases. Animal studies point towards histone modifications (e.g., H3K4me3, H3K9me1/2/3, H3K27me2/3, H3K9ac, H3K14ac and H4K5ac) to be dynamically and mostly brain region-, task- and time-dependently altered on a genome-wide level or gene-specifically (e.g., Bdnf) in models of fear conditioning, retrieval and extinction, acute and (sub-)chronic stress. Singular and underpowered studies on histone modifications in human fear-, anxiety- or stress-related phenotypes are currently restricted to the phenotype of PTSD. Provided consistent validation in human phenotypes, epigenetic biomarkers might ultimately inform indicated preventive interventions as well as personalized treatment approaches, and could inspire future innovative pharmacological treatment options targeting the epigenetic machinery improving treatment response in fear-, anxiety- and stressrelated disorders.

295. Rare Variant Genetic Architecture of the Human Cortical MRI Phenotypes in General Population

295. Rare Variant Genetic Architecture of the Human Cortical MRI Phenotypes in General Population

Synergistic hyperactivation of both mTORC1 and mTORC2 underlies the neural abnormalities of PTEN-deficient human neurons and cortical organoids

Mutations in the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) gene are associated with severe neurodevelopmental disorders. Loss of PTEN leads to hyperactivation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), which functions in two distinct protein complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2. The downstream signaling mechanisms that contribute to PTEN mutant phenotypes are not well delineated. Here, we show that pluripotent stem cell-derived PTEN mutant human neurons, neural precursors, and cortical organoids recapitulate disease-relevant phenotypes, including hypertrophy, electrical hyperactivity, enhanced proliferation, and structural overgrowth. PTEN loss leads to simultaneous hyperactivation of mTORC1 and mTORC2. We dissect the contribution of mTORC1 and mTORC2 by generating double mutants of PTEN and RPTOR or RICTOR, respectively. Our results reveal that the synergistic hyperactivation of both mTORC1 and mTORC2 is essential for the PTEN mutant human neural phenotypes. Together, our findings provide insights into the molecular mechanisms that underlie PTEN-related neural disorders and highlight novel therapeutic targets.

More than meets the eye: A conserved sensorimotor reflex helps unravel the circuit mechanisms of ASD

Animal models are instrumental to understanding the mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorder, yet translating human behavioral phenotypes remains challenging. Wang etal. leverage a conserved sensorimotor reflex to elucidate synaptic deficits in Scn2a haploinsufficiency and pilot novel rescue strategies.

Human Phenotype Ontology: Developing HPO Terms for Mood Disorders to Integrate Diverse Phenotypic Datasets

Human Phenotype Ontology: Developing HPO Terms for Mood Disorders to Integrate Diverse Phenotypic Datasets

Lipedema and Nutrition: High Fat Ketogenic Diet as Treatment of Choice

Background: Lipedema is a disease of the subcutaneous adipose tissue that was first clinically recognized in the mid-1900s. Lipedema can have a significant impact on physical appearance, mental health, and well-being: people with lipedema, lovingly called “Lippies”, not only complain about their physical appearance, but also the presence of a bunch of symptoms that worsen the quality of life, which is why it is important to study treatments that may have positive effects mainly in the affected areas. Reducing inflammation is the main target of the multidisciplinary treatment of lipedema. Many studies have shown a significant reduction in body fat and in the painful component of lipedema following integrated treatment and, above all, the high fat ketogenic diet. Therefore, we compared the efficacy of a High Fat Ketogenic Diet (HFKD) in patients suffering from lipedema to test the hypothesis that this approach is more effective than a Low Carb Antinflammatory non-ketogenic Diet (LCAD) on reducing the anthropometric measures in the affected areas and on improving symptoms.

Medical Student's Knowledge and Perspective Regarding Organ Donation In Punjab.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of organ donation among undergraduate medical students and explore potential variations based on demographic characteristics. Methodology: A Cross-Sectional Study was conducted from June to September 2023; participants were recruited from Punjab medical, dental, and paramedic colleges. Data was gathered using a structured questionnaire, which was pre-tested prior to the study. The online data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 28. Qualitative variables were reported in frequencies and percentages, and the Chi-square test assessed associations among study variables and sociodemographic traits. Results: The study enrolled 152 students, predominantly from the MBBS program (80%). Inconsistencies were observed in knowledge, attitude, and practice domains. Approximately 55.6% of students were aware of organ donation, while only 45.5% exhibited a positive attitude, particularly in donating under exceptional circumstances. The group below 18 years demonstrated a high percentage (45.5%) of willingness to become organ donors. Notably, a significant portion of participants expressed comfort and positive feelings about posthumous organ donation. Conclusion: The data revealed various perspectives and challenges associated with organ donation. Some participants mentioned issues like religious constraints, family opposition, and concerns about physical appearance or mortality. Moreover, a variety of "Other" barriers were identified, indicating a wide range of reservations. Nevertheless, the majority clearly grasped the selfless intent behind organ donation, with the main drive being to preserve and prolong human life. The results highlight the necessity for continuous efforts to enhance awareness, educate the public, and address reservations in order to encourage organ donation and ultimately save lives.   Keywords: Organ donor, Organ recipient, Undergraduate Medical Students. Item characteristic curve.