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SummaryEDIFY (Eating Disorders: Delineating Illness and Recovery Trajectories to Inform Personalised Prevention and Early Intervention in Young People) is an ambitious research project aiming to revolutionise how eating disorders are perceived, prevented and treated. Six integrated workstreams will address key questions, including: What are young people's experiences of eating disorders and recovery? What are the unique and shared risk factors in different groups? What helps or hinders recovery? How do the brain and behaviour change from early- to later-stage illness? How can we intervene earlier, quicker and in a more personalised way? This 4-year project, involving over 1000 participants, integrates arts, design and humanities with advanced neurobiological, psychosocial and bioinformatics approaches. Young people with lived experience of eating disorders are at the heart of EDIFY, serving as advisors and co-producers throughout. Ultimately, this work will expand public and professional perceptions of eating disorders, uplift under-represented voices and stimulate much-needed advances in policy and practice.

IMPORTANCE: In the context of the growing prevalence of childhood obesity, behaviors aimed at weight loss and their psychological burden might be increasing. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the prevalence of weight-control behaviors and weight perception, including their association with depressive symptoms, has changed in the 3 decades between 1986 and 2015. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This study used data from repeated cross-sections from successive longitudinal birth cohort studies. These included general population samples of UK adolescents aged 14 to 16 years from 3 ongoing birth cohorts: the British Cohort Study 1970 (children born between April 5 and 11, 1970; data collected in 1986), the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (mothers with expected delivery between April 1, 1991, and December 21, 1992; data collected in 2005), and the Millennium Cohort Study (children born between September 1, 2000, and January 11, 2002; data collected in 2015). A total of 22 503 adolescents with data available on at least 1 weight-control or weight-perception variable in midadolescence were included in the study. Data were analyzed from August 1, 2019, to January 15, 2020. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Self-reported lifetime dieting and exercise for weight loss, current intentions about weight (doing nothing, lose weight, stay the same, gain weight), and weight perception (underweight, about the right weight, overweight) adjusted for body mass index. The secondary outcome was depressive symptoms. EXPOSURES: The main exposure was time (ie, cohort); secondary exposures were weight-change behaviors and weight perception. RESULTS: The study cohort included 22 503 adolescents (mean [SD] age, 14.8 [0.3] years; 12 061 girls [53.6%]; and 19 942 White individuals [89.9%]). A total of 5878 participants were from the British Cohort Study, 5832 were from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, and 10 793 were from the Millennium Cohort Study. In 2015, 4809 participants (44.4%) had dieted and 6514 (60.5%) had exercised to lose weight compared with 1952 (37.7%) and 344 (6.8%) in 1986. Furthermore, 4539 (42.2%) were trying to lose weight in 2015 compared with 1767 (28.6%) in 2005. Although girls were more likely to report these behaviors in all years, their prevalence increased more in boys over time (lifetime dieting in boys: odds ratio [OR], 1.79; 95% CI, 1.24-2.59; in girls: OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.91-1.66; currently trying to lose weight in boys: OR, 2.75; 95% CI, 2.38-3.19; in girls: OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.50-1.92). Adolescents also became more likely to overestimate their weight (boys describing themselves as overweight adjusting for body mass index, 2005 vs 1985 OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.17-2.19; 2015 vs 1985 OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.04-1.80; girls describing themselves as underweight, after adjusting for body mass index, 2015 vs 1986 OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.28-0.91). Girls who described themselves as overweight experienced increasingly greater depressive symptoms over time compared to girls who described their weight as about right (mean difference 1986, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.22-0.41; mean difference 2005, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.24-0.42; mean difference 2015, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.49-0.62). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: These findings suggest that the growing focus on obesity prevention might have had unintended consequences related to weight-control behaviors and poor mental health. Public health campaigns addressing obesity should include prevention of disordered eating behaviors and be sensitive to negative impact on mental health.

A two-coordinate Fe(II) m-terphenyl complex acts as a precatalyst for the hydroamination of isocyanates, affording urea and biuret derivatives, with product selectivity accomplished via modification of the reaction conditions. Using a more nucleophilic amine facilitates the insertion of up to four isocyanates into the N–H bond, affording triuret and tetrauret derivatives.

Background: Despite increasing evidence to support an overlap between autism and anorexia nervosa (AN), underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Social and sensory factors have emerged as promising targets in both autism and AN, however there remains scope to compare these differences across autistic and non-autistic experiences of AN. Drawing on dyadic multi-perspectives, this study explored experiences of social and sensory differences in autistic and non-autistic adults and their parents and/or carers. Methods: Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), dyadic interviews were conducted with 14 dyads, with seven autistic dyads and seven non-autistic dyads. Data analysis was subjected to a triangulation of interpretations: (1) the participants themselves; (2) a neurotypical researcher; (3) and an Autistic researcher with lived/living experience of AN. Results: IPA identified three themes in each group, with similarities and differences between autistic and non-autistic dyads. Similar themes were identified regarding the importance of social connectedness and socio-emotional difficulties, as well a common lack of trust in the social and sensory self and body. Autism-specific themes centred on feelings of social ‘defectiveness’, disparities between sensing and expressing certain cues, and lifelong, multi-sensory processing differences. Non-autistic themes reflected social comparisons and inadequacy, and sensitivities to the learning of ideals and behaviour through early experiences. Conclusions: While similarities were observed across both groups, there appeared to be notable differences in the perceived role and influence of social and sensory differences. These findings may have important implications on the delivery and modification of eating disorder interventions. Specifically, they suggest that while treatment targets may look similar, subtle differences in underlying mechanisms and approaches may be required for Autistic individuals with AN across sensory, emotion and communication-based interventions.

Two- and three-coordinate manganese m-terphenyl complexes are precatalysts for the dehydrogenation of dimethylamine–borane (Me2NH·BH3) affording one equivalent of molecular hydrogen and half an equivalent of [Me2N–BH2]2. Experimental studies into the nature of the catalyst indicate that small changes in the coordination environment give rise to significant differences in the reaction mechanism, occurring through a homogeneous mechanism for two-coordinate precatalysts, whilst for the three-coordinate species a heterogeneous mechanism takes place where nanoparticles are responsible for the catalysis.

Peers may serve as risk factors for body dissatisfaction and eating pathology through two possible routes: (1) promoting body dissatisfaction through appearance-related interactions (e.g. weight-teasing); (2) a non-specific social support route whereby poor quality peer relations result in depression and consequently eating pathology. The second route has received little attention and, therefore, was the focus of this study. A cross-sectional study in which 216 adolescent girls (aged 13–16 years) completed self-report measures of positive and negative friendship qualities, friendship functions, eating pathology, body dissatisfaction and depression. Those reporting poorer quality friendships tended to show greater eating pathology and greater body dissatisfaction. These associations were reduced to non-significance when covarying depression. There was no evidence that the role of friendships was moderated by the extent to which participants valued close relations. Low-quality friendships are associated with disordered eating and may be suitable targets for prevention.

Body dissatisfaction and dieting are risk factors for eating disorders. Understanding young people’s views about factors underlying body dissatisfaction and dieting may be helpful for those designing preventative interventions. This study explored adolescents’ views on causes of body dissatisfaction and dieting and recommendations for prevention. Four 1-h focus groups were conducted with 22 female adolescents (aged 13–15 years). Transcripts were explored using thematic analysis. Body dissatisfaction and dieting was explained by four themes: peer acceptance; social comparison online; pressure from family; and pressure from the media and fashion industries. There were seven areas of recommendation for prevention: building sources of support; learning to be critical of the media; monitoring the school gym; working with parents; educating about signs and symptoms of eating disorders; working with people who have suffered from eating disorders; and providing help from professionals. Implications of these findings for the development of prevention programmes are discussed.

We isolated the fluoroacetate dehalogenase gene (H1), from Moraxella species strain B, and placed it under the transcriptional control of a 154 bp fragment of the erm gene promoter. The promoter/gene construct was attached to the Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens shuttle vector pBHerm, and the resulting dehalogenase expression plasmid (pBHf) was transferred to B, fibrisolvens OB156 by electroporation. The erm gene promoter directed expression of dehalogenase activity in both E. coli and B. fibrisolvens OB156. Cell–free lysates of the genetically modified OB156 defluorinated 10.6 nmol fluoroacetate/min/mg protein. Growing cultures of OB156 were able to detoxify fluoroacetate in the culture medium, at the rate of 9.9 nmol/min/mg. Plasmid pBHf was retained by 100% of OB156 cells after 500 generations of non–selective culture. The restriction pattern of pBHf remained unchanged after extensive non–selective growth and host bacteria continued to produce active dehalogenase. The construction of rumen bacteria that are able to detoxify an important natural poison supports the feasibility of using genetically modified rumen bacteria to aid animal production.

Ferrous fumarate, an oral hematinic, has been compared with the sulphate, succinate and gluconate for various aspects of toxicity. In mice, the relative acute oral toxicities were fumarate 1, succinate 1.1, gluconate 2.0 and sulphate 2.7. In cats, the relative emetic activities were fumarate 1, succinate and gluconate 3, and sulphate 4. Examination of the stomachs and livers of rabbits given massive doses of the four iron tablets showed that the sulphate and gluconate were much more toxic and irritant than the succinate or fumarate. Rats dosed for 12 weeks with ferrous fumarate (50 mg. Fe/Kg./day) grew normally, and histologic examination of the major organs revealed no abnormalities that could be attributed to the drug. Hematinic studies on iron-deficient rats, receiving the four iron compounds orally or iron-dextran intramuscularly, indicated that ferrous fumarate was as effective as the other compounds. Twenty-two hypochromic anemic patients were dosed with Fersamal (three tablets per day), and all except one showed hematologic improvement. The patient who proved refractory had previously undergone gastrectomy and had not improved on either ferrous sulphate or gluconate. The tablets were acceptable to all the patients.

Build Africa's School Tie Project is aiming to link schools in the UK and Africa. Helen Sharpe explains how you can get involved