New Tool Assesses Body Image - Female College Students Rate Their Fatness, Muscularity

A promising new index can quickly gauge how women's perceptions of their bodies compares to the ideal, according to
research presented today at the 52nd American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tenn.


What's different, say the researchers who developed it, is that the Visual Rating Tool (VRT) looks at muscularity as well as
body fat. "Existing testing instruments were inadequate in some ways," said William J. Ryan, Ph.D., Exercise Physiologist.
"We wanted to look at muscularity as well as body fat." Jennifer Sanftner, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, said "Women have
been preoccupied with body fat for a long time. Interest in women's muscularity is something new."


Using 24 illustrations for body fat and eight for muscularity, the VRT asks each participant:


1. Which figure do you think you look like?

2. Which figure do you feel like most of the time?

3. Which figure would you most like to look like?

4. Which figure do you think society wants you to look like?

5. Which figure do you think men find most attractive?

6. Which figure do you think women find most attractive?


102 female students at Slippery Rock completed the VRT, the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 and the Multidimensional body
Self-Relations Questionnaire. 90 students returned two weeks later to re-take the VRT, which allowed researchers to measure
its test-retest reliability.


Researchers found a high degree of correlation between the new VRT and the established testing instruments. Dr. Sanftner
said, "With respect to body fat, the figures are highly reliable, particularly when asking 'What do you look like, and what
do you want to look like?' When it comes to muscularity, the correlations were lower."


Fluctuations in respondents' attitudes toward their muscularity didn't surprise co-researcher Patricia Pierce, Ph.D.,
Exercise Physiologist. "It depends on how one defines muscularity, she said. "Some women have a stigma against being
muscular, while others think 'I want to be more muscular.'" Further, said Dr. Sanftner, "Muscularity is a more
state-dependent issue. Today I may feel muscular after working out. Two weeks from now, I may feel different."


The VRT can be quickly administered by a clinician or personal trainer and lends itself to testing large numbers of people at
one time. Among other uses, it can call attention to risk factors for anorexia or bulimia. "The VRT is not a diagnostic tool
for eating disorders or body image disorders," said Dr. Ryan. "But, it provides information that might indicate a tendency of
someone at risk for body-image issues. If the figure they want to look like is very different from what they think they look
like, that might indicate a problem that needs professional attention."


While the VRT was validated using traditional college-age women, researchers say its applicability to other age groups has
not been proven. "The VRT is probably applicable to women in their 20s, 30s and 40s," said Dr. Ryan. "The figures we present
are general enough that women in that age range should be able to relate to them. This test may not be applicable to older
adults." High school students, he pointed out, comprise a wide range of development that presents special challenges.



In summing up the research team's goals in developing the VRT, Ryan said, "We hope to introduce an instrument that has some
validity. We'd like other people to use it, try to replicate our research and do other research."


ACSM's 52nd Annual Meeting is going on now at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. For more information on the
event, or to speak with ACSM Communications and Public Information staff, please call (615) 458-0996.


The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More
than 20,000 international, national, and regional members are dedicated to promoting and integrating scientific research,
education, and practical applications of sports medicine and exercise science to maintain and enhance physical performance,
fitness, health, and quality of life.


NOTE: The conclusions outlined in this news release are those of the researchers only, and should not be construed as an
official statement of the American College of Sports Medicine.


FOR MORE INFORMATION: ACSM's 52nd Annual Meeting takes place June 1-4, 2005. After June 6, please call the ACSM
Communications and Public Information office at (317) 637-9200 ext. 117 or 127.


American College of Sports
Medicine

Study Examines Rates Of Multiple Partners Among People In Non-Romantic Sexual Relationships

Seventeen percent of men and 5% of women in non-romantic sexual relationships report that they had multiple sexual partners during that relationship, which could promote the spread of sexually transmitted infections, according to a recent study in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, HealthDay/USA Today reports.

For the study, Anthony Paik -- a sociologist at the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences -- and colleagues asked 783 heterosexual adults ages 18 through 60 how many people they were sexually involved with during their most recent non-romantic sexual relationship.

According to the study, 17% of women and 8% of men said that they had been monogamous during the relationship but that their partner had not. Twelve percent of women and 10% of men said that neither member of the relationship was monogamous.

Researchers also found that respondents who reported getting along with a partner's parents were more likely to be monogamous. Paik said this finding suggests that people are less likely to risk behavior that could damage a relationship when they consider the impact on their partner's family. The study also found that being in a sexual relationship with a friend increased the likelihood of having other sexual partners by 44% for women and 25% for men, while involvement with an acquaintance or stranger raised the likelihood by 30% for women and 43% for men (Preidt, HealthDay/USA Today, 4/8).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2010 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Videos Discuss Marie Stopes TV Ad, Access To Antiretrovirals, Family Planning In Africa

The following summarizes selected women's health related videos.

 Marie Stopes Launches TV Ad: Fox News reported on a new British TV ad from Marie Stopes International that urges women with unplanned pregnancies to call a toll-free hotline for counseling. Antiabortion-rights groups are protesting the ad, which uses the slogan "Are You Late?" and does not mention the word "abortion." Three-fourths of the British public support the ad, according to Fox News (Palkot, Fox News, 5/24).

 HBO Examines Impact of Antiretrovirals: On Monday, HBO and Product (RED) presented a documentary -- "The Lazarus Effect" -- about the transformative effects of antiretroviral drugs for people living with HIV. In an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," (RED) CEO Susan Smith-Ellis said efforts by the Clinton Global Initiative and other groups have helped bring the cost of providing antiretrovirals to HIV-positive people from thousands of dollars annually to about 40 cents per day. In addition, in part because of initiatives from the Global Fund and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, more than five million people worldwide now use the drugs, including about three million in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Smith-Ellis (Scarborough, "Morning Joe," 5/24).

 Kristof Discusses Global Family Planning: A "Morning Joe" panel and the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof discussed his recent column on the lack of access to contraception in developing countries. Women in poor countries face multiple barriers to family planning, including cost, a lack of knowledge about contraception and rules that require a husband's permission for women to use birth control, Kristof said. "There is good evidence that if you invest in family planning in these countries, it actually pays for itself," he added (Scarborough et al., "Morning Joe," MSNBC, 5/20).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.


© 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

Fast-Growing Gestational Tumors: Gynecologic Cancer Expert Helps Pinpoint Best Treatment

A clinical trial has sifted out the most effective single-drug chemotherapy regimen for quick-growing but highly curable cancers that arise from the placentas of pregnant women.



In the comparison trial for treating low-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN), researchers found that a biweekly dose of dactinomycin had a higher complete response rate than a weekly dose of methotrexate, the more commonly used drug. GTN is a group of rare tumors that involve abnormal growth of cells inside a woman's uterus.



"Both chemotherapy drugs are effective in treating this kind of neoplasia, but this trial proved that dactinomycin is the best first-line regimen," said Dr. David Scott Miller, who is the head of gynecologic oncology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and co-investigator on the study.



The trial, supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute to the Gynecologic Oncology Group, was published in the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.



Dr. Miller, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, chairs the uterine corpus committee of the Gynecologic Oncology Group. As group members, UT Southwestern specialists are able to offer patients access to national protocols supported by the institute.



Unlike cervical or endometrial cancers, which develop from cells of the uterus, trophoblastic neoplasia starts in the cells that would normally develop into the placenta during pregnancy. These tumors include hydatidiform moles, caused by over-production of the tissue that typically develops into the placenta, and choriocarcinoma, a quick-growing form of cancer in a woman's uterus.



There has been no consensus on which drug and regimen best treats GTN, and researchers found that such choices were highly institution-specific.



In this trial, researchers compared regimens of both cancer drugs in a sample of 216 women enrolled over an eight-year period. Adverse effects were minimal with either drug, but a biweekly dose of intravenous dactinomycin was superior to a weekly intramuscular injection of methotrexate in stopping the growth of cancerous cells in the uterus. Dactinomycin had a 70 percent complete response rate compared to 53 percent for methotrexate.



Study patients who received dactinomycin also required half the number of treatment cycles. Dactinomycin additionally was easy to administer and had low toxicity - a strong consideration for young reproductive-age women.



"Minimizing toxicity is essential in low-risk GTN, because these women have a high-cure rate and usually hope to have subsequent pregnancies," Dr. Miller said. "These tumors are much more common in developing countries, where access to more complicated chemotherapy regimens is limited. The Gynecological Oncology Group has sought to develop simpler but effective regimens that would lend themselves to use in low-resource settings."



Researchers said further trials comparing the biweekly dactinomycin regimen with other methotrexate regimens are warranted.



Source:

Robin Russell

UT Southwestern Medical Center