Gender role, eating disorder symptoms, and body image concern in ballet dancers

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to evaluate the relationships between gender role, eating behavior, and body image in nonprofessional female ballet dancers. METHODS: One hundred ten female ballet dancers and 59 controls were administered the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE), the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT), and the Beck Depression Inventory. RESULTS: Ballet dancers scored higher than controls in most of the items evaluating body image and eating behaviors; a high number of ballet dancers with undifferentiated gender role were also observed. In the dancers group, male-typified subjects showed higher median scores of EDE and BUT scales, while in the control group, the highest median scores of EDE and BUT scales were found in undifferentiated subjects. CONCLUSION: Ballet schools' cultural pressure towards an ideal of leanness could interfere with the process of gender role acquisition. Ballet dancers appear to be overconcerned with performance; this could reinforce the internalization of several constructs that are generally considered as typically male.     

Right Ventricular Changes in Highly Trained Athletes: Between Physiology and Pathophysiology

Several studies have described the adaptive remodeling of the heart during exercise. In some more practiced endurance athletes, there is a disproportionate load on the right ventricle (RV), at least during exercise, and this might be the basis for a chronic pro-arrhythmic RV remodeling. Especially, in these kinds of athletes the recovery after detraining might be incomplete, in particular for RV changes. The observation of acute myocardial injury based on transient elevation of biomarkers and chronic myocardial scar, not completely reversible changes of the RV and an increased prevalence of some arrhythmias support the existence of an “exercise-induced cardiomyopathy.” The aim of this paper is to review current knowledge about changes in the right heart in highly trained athletes and how these change influence cardiac function.     

Complementing the Latest APA Definition of Hypnosis: Sensory-Motor and Vascular Peculiarities Involved in Hypnotizability

The aim of this article is to complement the recently revised American Psychological Association (APA) definition of hypnotizability. It (a) lists a few differences in sensorimotor integration between subjects with high (highs) and low (lows) hypnotizability scores in the ordinary state of consciousness and in the absence of suggestions, (b) proposes that hypnotizability-related cerebellar peculiarities may account for them, (c) suggests that the cerebellum could also be involved in cognitive aspects of hypnotizability and (d) explains why the information derived from studies of sensorimotor and cardiovascular aspects of hypnotizability may be relevant to its definition and useful in orienting further experimental research in the field of hypnosis.