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Copyright of Íkala: Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura is the property of Universidad de Antioquia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Epidemiological studies on the prevalence of cyberbullying and cybervictimization in different countries, using the same procedure and the same measures, are of relevance in understanding differences in results that are not due to methodological factors. The current study was conducted in 8 European countries (Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Spain), involving a total of 4,847 students, using an online anonymous questionnaire (the Tabby online questionnaire). The results were analyzed by comparing differences between countries and between genders. Cyberbullying and cybervictimization were most prevalent in Bulgaria and Hungary and least prevalent in Spain. Boys committed more cyberbullying than girls in all countries, but there were no overall gender differences in cybervictimization. However, girls were more often cybervictims in four countries and boys were more often cybervictims in the other four countries. The results are discussed with regard to the importance of cross-national studies of cyberbullying and cybervictimization and the use of online data collection in order to reduce methodological bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A limited number of studies have examined chewing gum intakes in Europe. In the current study, chewing gum intakes were estimated in children, adolescents and adults via customised online questionnaires developed to collect data on patterns of chewing gum consumption (including usage, duration and gum variety) in September and October 2011. A total sample of chewing gum consumers composed of 1001 children and 5186 adolescents and adults from five European countries was included in the survey, with 79% and 66% of children and adolescents/adults reporting chewing gum in the previous 3 and 6 months, respectively. The intake of chewing gum on a per g basis was estimated by establishing the mean weights of each form of gum, and using factors for the frequency of chewing gum intake obtained through the online survey. Intakes of chewing gum at the mean, 90th and 95th percentile in children were 1.87, 3.79 and 6.59 g day–1(equivalent to 0.75, 1.67 and 2.40 pieces/day), respectively. In adolescents and adults, intakes at the mean, 90th and 95th percentile were 1.87, 5.40 and 8.00 g day–1(equivalent to 0.98, 3.00 and 4.00 pieces/day), respectively. Intakes were similar across the five countries. Chewing gum use was significantly higher in older compared with younger children and was significantly higher in adolescents compared with older adults. The data reported herein provide a reliable resource for chewing gum intakes in Europe and will be important for estimating exposure to food additives and flavourings intended for use in chewing gum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In many countries, surgical castration of piglets without pain relief or anaesthesia is still common practice. Castration is performed to minimise the incidence of boar taint, a bad taste (urine/fecal like), typically present in the meat of 5 to 10% of uncastrated male pigs. It also helps to avoid aggressive and sexual behaviour. For animal welfare reasons, alternatives are being considered, and in some countries, an alternative is already practiced. One option is to perform surgical castration with anaesthesia and relieve pain. A second option is to produce male pigs without castration, which requires detection of tainted carcasses in the slaughter house. A third option is to apply immunocastration: by a two-fold injection of a vaccine, the testes function is inhibited, which reduces boar-like behaviour and avoids boar taint. In this study, we evaluated the acceptability of each of these methods in 16 countries in Europe. Of the 4 presented options, the practice of surgical castration was least accepted (32%), whilst there was a high acceptance of castration with anaesthesia (85%), followed by immunocastration (71%) and production of boars (49%). The developed questionnaire and infographic can be used in future studies to further gain insights in consumer and stakeholder attitudes on this topic. Surgical castration of piglets without pain relief is still common practice in many countries. Possible alternatives for surgical castration are application of pain relief or anaesthesia or production of boars (entire males) and immunocastrates. Each of these alternatives faces advantages and disadvantages which may result in different citizen attitudes and consumers acceptability. Understanding which practice is acceptable to whom and why may further stimulate implementation. Consumer (n = 3251) and stakeholder (n = 1027) attitudes towards surgical castration without pain relief, surgical castration with anaesthesia, immunocastration, and production of boars were surveyed from April to June 2020 via an online questionnaire in 16 countries (>175 respondents per country). Surgical castration without pain relief was separated from each of the alternatives due to animal welfare and showed the lowest acceptability (32%). Within the alternatives, a further partitioning between the alternatives was based on perceived quality and food safety, with an acceptance of 85% for applying anaesthesia, 71% for immunocastration, and 49% for boar production. Differences depending on professional involvement and familiarity with agriculture could be observed, mainly for the acceptance of surgical castration without anaesthesia, immunocastration, and boars. Castration with anaesthesia was highly accepted by all types of respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]