This study indicates that early in a child's sociocultural development, grade level, gender, race, and SES are influential in the perception of ideal adult body size and opposite gender ideal adult body size. These factors are also influential in determining concerns about weight and weight control practices. The findings of this study support the need to begin health and wellness education efforts early in childhood while taking into account racial, gender, age, and SES disparities. This knowledge can also be useful in targeting interventions for both obesity and eating disorders.

Summary. The effect of several cytotoxic agents on maturing erythroid cells and repopulating stem cells has been investigated. The results demonstrate the extent to which the effect of these agents depend on the rate at which the cells are proliferating. They also show the need to consider damage to the maturing cells as a possible critical factor when proliferation‐dependent agents are administered repeatedly.

The role of sex trade in Thailand’s tourism and expatriate industry has been a common topic in professional literature and popular media for many years. With the rise of the global economy and the increasing foreigner population in Thailand, there is little doubt that foreign influence on Thailand has grown. However, little research has examined foreigners’ views and attitudes toward individuals who sell sex (ISS) in Thailand. The present study explored these attitudes using a prototype methodology. Participants were asked to supply characteristics and/or terms pertinent to their perception of an individual who sells sex in Thailand and to designate those terms as either positive, negative, or neutral. A total of 390 responses were collected from 81 participants and include two core ( determined, in need), two secondary ( people oriented, an irritation), and two tertiary ( exploited, distraught) prototype characteristics. Four of these characteristics were designated by participants as negative ( in need, an irritation, exploited, distraught), and two were designated as positive ( determined, people oriented) by participants. Differences between the foreigners who had purchased sex (customers; n = 38) and those who had not (noncustomers; n = 43) were also explored. Results of this study exemplify the complex views held toward ISS among foreigners and can be used to inform how foreigners may impact sex trade and treatment of ISS in Thailand, as well as future research and interventions to improve the lives and safety of ISS in the country.

T/NK progenitors are present in the thymus; however, the thymus predominantly promotes T cell development. In this study, we demonstrated that human thymic epithelial cells (TEC) inhibit NK cell development. Most ex vivo human thymocytes express CD1a, indicating that thymic progenitors are predominantly committed to the T cell lineage. In contrast, the CD1a−CD3−CD56+ NK population comprises only 0.2% (n = 7) of thymocytes. However, we observed increases in the percentage (20- to 25-fold) and absolute number (13- to 71-fold) of NK cells when thymocytes were cultured with mixtures of either IL-2, IL-7, and stem cell factor or IL-15, IL-7, and stem cell factor. TEC, when present in the cultures, inhibited the increases in the percentage (3- to 10-fold) and absolute number (3- to 25-fold) of NK cells. Furthermore, we show that TEC-derived soluble factors inhibit generation of NK-CFU and inhibit IL15- or IL2-driven NK cell differentiation from thymic CD34+ triple-negative thymocytes. The inhibitory activity was found to be associated with a 8,000- to 30,000 Da fraction. Thus, our data demonstrate that TEC inhibit NK cell development from T/NK CD34+ triple negative progenitors via soluble factor(s), suggesting that the human thymic microenvironment not only actively promotes T cell maturation but also controls the development of non-T lineage cells such as the NK lineage.

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