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THURSDAY, Oct. 19, 2017 -- Is a "nose job" worth it? And if so, how much?
A new study suggests that casual observers may think patients who undergo such procedures are more attractive, more successful and healthier.
"While we are not suggesting that [a nose job] is the only way to improve one's appearance, improving our attractiveness and health as compared to others conveys a competitive advantage," said study co-author and plastic surgeon Dr. Lisa Ishii.
More than 220,000 "nose reshaping" procedures -- known as rhinoplasty -- were performed in the United States in 2016, up 2 percent from the previous year, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The procedures are nearly as common as liposuction.
The new study examines how "casual observers" perceive people after they've had a nose job, said Ishii, a plastic surgeon and associate professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.
"Patients seeking rhinoplasty do so for two main reasons: to improve their self-perception and to improve how others perceive them," she said. "We wanted to measure the second one."
The researchers recruited 473 people online to evaluate the appearance of 13 rhinoplasty patients. Observers ranged in age from 18 to 73. Most were female and white, and highly educated.
The researchers deemed the patients' post-op results "optimal." They showed the observers photos taken before the nose reshaping and at least 6 months after. But they didn't reveal whether they were "before" or "after" images, and the observers never saw more than one picture of the same patient.
The patients were mostly female, with an average age of 34. Most "had nose problems that were visible to the casual observer and they wanted to look better," Ishii said.
She added that a prior study showed that the casual observer "actually picks up on even subtle nasal deformities."
Her team asked the observers to rate patients in terms of attractiveness, success level and overall health based on their photos.
On a scale of 1 to 100, the average patient's attractiveness rating improved by 14 points after remodeling, the researchers found. Ratings of success and health rose 9 and 10 points, respectively, after surgery.
Ishii called the degree of improvement significant, and said this gives patients information about how nose jobs may affect them.
"More attractive people are more successful," she said. "It's up to patients to decide whether that's worth it to them."
Insurers don't usually cover nose jobs, however. The cost can range from $6,000 to $25,000 "depending on the complexity of the procedure and the reputation of the surgeon," said plastic surgeon Dr. Clinton Humphrey. He's an associate professor with the University of Kansas Health System.
"It is important not to misinterpret these study results," cautioned Humphrey, co-author of a commentary accompanying the new research.
"This study included only patients with what were judged by surgeons to be 'ideal' results. Rhinoplasty continues to be one of the most challenging cosmetic surgical procedures," he said.
"While I always strive to achieve the best possible outcome in every one of my rhinoplasty patients, I do not achieve an 'ideal' result every time," Humphrey said.
"It would be a mistake to read this study and conclude that every patient who undergoes rhinoplasty can expect to be perceived as more successful, healthier, and more attractive," he added.
Still, he said, "patients should feel reassured that what we as rhinoplasty surgeons consider to be 'ideal' results are also viewed very favorably by the average person," Humphrey said. "As a surgeon, this study tells me that when I execute a successful rhinoplasty, I have an opportunity to positively impact my patient...
The study appears Oct. 19 in the journal JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery.
For more about nose jobs, visit the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Melville, New York and Davidson, N.C.-based industrial products distributor MSC Industrial Supply Co. reported second quarter income more than doubled from $53.6 million a year ago to $117.6 million.
The firm said net sales rose 9.3 percent to $769 million as operating income rose 13.2 percent to $98.1 million.
Gershwind pointed to improved gross margins, which came even as the company boosted business through acquisitions.
“Strengthening market demand and a better pricing environment, coupled with a continuing focus on driving productivity and our decision to begin growing our sales force, bode well for an even better future,” he added.
MSC Industrial also reported a $41.2 million “provisional benefit” due to the revaluation of the company’s tax related balance sheet items and a $16.9 million benefit attributable to the lower effective tax rate.
An elderly woman has been allegedly indecently assaulted by her gardener over a two-hour period after he broke into her Newcastle home.
The 85-year-old woman was alone in her Edgeworth home when a man entered about 6pm and allegedly indecently assaulted her several times until she was able to press an alarm just after 8pm, police said.
It's understood he 53-year-old man had done gardening work at the woman's address in the past, police said.
A relative of the woman went to the house after the alarm was pushed and saw a man fleeing the property.
The victim has been treated for a number of non-life threatening injuries.
The man has been charged with breaking and entering and assault with intent to commit sexual assault and has been refused bail to appear before Newcastle Local Court on Monday.
A U.S. Department of Transportation committee will hear testimony starting today about health and safety concerns raised by airlines' push to get more seats on passenger aircraft. Seats are getting narrower, thinner and some say much less comfortable.
The rapidly shrinking airline seat may be profitable for the carriers, but the discomfort for passengers has drawn the attention of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
An advisory committee will hear testimony today from expert witnesses, including the Federal Aviation Administration Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, the Centers for Disease Control, and the inventor of the Knee Defender, a gadget designed to prevent airline seats from reclining.
Knee defender controversy: Is it time for reclining airline seats to go?
At issue is the move by many carriers toward higher density aircraft. Airlines around the world, including American Airlines, KLM, Air France and Emirates among others, are expanding their high-cost, high-margin first and business class sections, but they don't want to cut back on the number of paying passengers in eco...
That is helping push profits skyward, to record levels in the case of Air Canada.
According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2010, about 15 per cent of the largest version of the Boeing 777 were delivered with nine seats per row.
In 2012, the paper says, more than 70 per cent of 777s came with 10 seats per row.
Seat width is down from about 47 centimetres in the 1990s to as narrow as 42 centimetres on some flights now.
But it's legroom that has become even more cramped.
The seat pitch, or the distance between your seat and the seat in front of you, on Air Canada flights in economy on Boeing's 767-300ER is as much as 86 centimetres.
On Rouge, Air Canada's discount leisure brand, seat pitch on the same plane (excluding Rouge Plus) is 76 centimetres.
"Like our main Canadian competitors, Air Canada has reconfigured its aircraft to add more seats in order to remain competitive," says spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick says passengers have the option to purchase "preferred seats" throughout the aircraft that offer more legroom and Air Canada is also introducing "premium economy," with pitch of 97 centimetres in its widebody fleet.
On its Rouge carrier, Fitzpatrick says, "seating is designed to match that available on competing leisure airlines" and has remained the same size and pitch since the airline's launch.
Standard seat pitch on Westjet's Boeing 737s is 79 centimetres to 84 centimetres.
Diminishing legroom can be annoying for average-sized people. If you're above average though, it can be torturous.
"I had to sit almost in the fetal position," says Dave Rasmussen, who is seven feet three inches tall and suffers from a pulmonary condition that makes it hard to breathe when sitting hunched over.
"I couldn't put my feet down on the floor. I just put a pillow between my knees and the seat ahead and I kind of sat there in the fetal position for the hour flight, or whatever it was."
Rasmussen, who works in information technology for the University of Wisconsin, says he "doesn't have a basketball player's salary" and can't afford to go business class.
Airline employees used to put him in the exit row, but now anyone can buy those seats for an extra fee. With regular seats getting smaller and smaller, Rasmussen says it has gotten tougher for him to travel.
"I think humanity has sort of lost touch with what's good for people as opposed to profits for executives. I believe that transportation should be something of a utility. It should accommodate the people," Rasmussen says.
Without legislation, some passengers are guarding their shrinking legroom any way they can.
"Nobody wants to buy [my] product. They buy it because it's the least bad alternative to the situation they're in," says Ira Goldman, inventor of the Knee Defender.
His device, which attaches to an airline seat's tray table and prevents the seat in front from reclining, made international news last summer when a man using it had pop tossed in his face by another irate passenger.
Goldman is scheduled to testify at the US DOT committee hearing. He says that without some sort of regulatory involvement, there's nothing to stop airline seats from getting even smaller.
"They have no financial downside and every financial upside to cram us in there," Goldman tells CBC news.
Consider the head of discount carrier Ryanair once famously suggested selling standing-only tickets as a way to cut costs.
A recent study suggested a standing cabin would increase the passenger capacity on a Boeing 737 by 21 per cent, while lowering fares by as much as 44 per cent.
Scandal will be popping out fewer episodes next season.
In the wake of news that leading lady Kerry Washington is expecting her second child, ABC has trimmed the show’s Season 6 episode order from 22 to 16, TVLine has learned exclusively.
As we reported earlier today, one option the network is mulling has the #TGIT staple sitting out the fall and returning at midseason with an uninterrupted 16-episode run. An ABC rep declined to comment.
During Washington’s first pregnancy two years ago, ABC similarly reduced the show’s episode order (from 22 to 18).
We speak to a woman so concerned about climate change that she has decided not to have children. She says she's not alone, and has found solidarity with hundreds of others who feel the same.
In the wake of Sunday's bombings, Sri Lanka imposed a social media blackout to stop the spread of misinformation and limit the chance of further attacks. But some experts argue that the measure isolates ordinary people in a time of mass trauma and mourning.
Today on The Current: Our national affairs panel looks at how the public feels about government policy to combat climate change; plus, a group of activists who have pledged to not have children because of the global instability that climate change could cause; and we explore the effectiveness of Sri Lanka’s decision to...
Out the mouth of babes, they say. And these babes will not be silenced.
Yeah. These kids were having none of it.
And now, on Sunday, an announcement that these survivors will host the March for Our Lives, to be held in Washington, D.C., on March 24.
In addition to the march on the capital, the organizers also plan protests in other cities around the country and are bringing fire to the National Rifle Association and its complicit minions.
Emma added that the student activists from Parkland want to have conversations about guns with President Donald Trump, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and all Republicans.
“We want to give them the opportunity to be on the right side of this,” she said.
We have a feeling that this is the beginning of the end. These children have been traumatized, yes, but also politicized, and say they will be out in these streets. And I’m so proud of them, but so saddened that it took this heartbreak to make it so.
Government has come up with a major strategy to minimise the effects of erratic rains expected in the 2018-19 agricultural season, Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri said yesterday.
The grand plan, he said, includes expediting installation of irrigation infrastructure as well as getting farmers to broaden their range of crops to include small grains in all farming sub-sectors and regions.
A 2018-19 seasonal rainfall forecast presented by Government last week shows that Zimbabwe expects normal rains with a bias towards below normal throughout the season.
As such, there is a high possibility the country could experience an El Nino phenomenon.
Minister Shiri said “pre-emptive action” was needed to avert a potential disaster.
“While Government is noticing some improvement in the continued national food security status since the adoption of Command Agriculture strategy, we need, however, to keep our sight firmly glued to the dashboard so that the food security vehicle does not veer off the road,” he said.
Minister Shiri said a deliberate national programme to increase production of small grains would minimise the impact of the weather phenomenon.
Small grains tend to thrive under harsh conditions.
Said Minister Shiri: “As part of the grand strategy, various measures are going to be instituted.
He said installation of irrigation infrastructure would be accelerated.
“There is need for the nation to unleash a blitz on repairs and installation of irrigation infrastructure wherever water is available both on surface and ground sources,” Minister Shiri said.
“While each farmer knows best when to plant and when not to, it is advisable for us to stagger our plantings in order to minimise our losses since the rain distribution pattern for the season is likely to be highly variable,” he said.
“To plant a third of our crops with the onset of effective rains, a third in mid-December and the rest soon after Christmas may be a strategy worth considering. This would help farmers to spread their risk over the rainfall season. Such an approach has been seen to work in the past.
BAGHDAD, Iraq – The new political system in Iraq will be centered around a strong parliament that can prevent a dictator from running the country in the future, a constitution committee member said Wednesday.
Thamer al-Ghadban (search) said there will be bicameral system: a parliament that is elected by the people, and a regional council with representatives elected by residents of each province.
"There has been an agreement that the political system in Iraq will be parliamentary," al-Ghadban told reporters. "This system was chosen to prevent any chance of a dictatorship in the future."
Al-Ghadban said that parliament will have the right to summon and question senior state employees. It will also be authorized to grant votes of confidence to the government.
His statement came as committee members sought to reach agreement on key disputes including federalism, the role of Islam, distribution of wealth, Iraq's identity and language.
Humam Hammoudi, chairman of the 71-member committee drafting the constitution, has called political leaders from the Kurdish, Sunni Arab (search) and Shiite communities to meet Friday to see if they can forge compromises in order to finish the document by the Aug. 15 deadline.
Iraqis will have a chance to vote on the constitution in a referendum scheduled for mid-October. General elections were slated by year's end.
The president will be elected by the National Assembly for a four-year term, the prime minister will be the supreme commander of the armed forces, and the defense minister must be a civilian, al-Ghadban said.
He said there has been an agreement on decentralized governments in the regions. He added that there will be a "federal court whose job is to solve problems between regions or between regions and the central government."

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