scholarly journals The effect of flow and context on in-vivo positive mood in digital gaming

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Katherine Kaye ◽  
Rebecca Monk ◽  
Helen Joanne Wall ◽  
Iain Hamlin ◽  
Adam W Qureshi

Although research extols the positive effects of social gaming, the dynamic processes underlying these effects remain unclear. In a hitherto unused approach in this field, we utilised a Smartphone App to model the effect of in-vivo flow and gaming context on positive mood. We also explored individual-level factors including demographic gaming variables (average hours per week playing, gamer-type, preferred type of play) and Big-5 personality traits. Data was obtained from 41 gamers producing a total of 2796 data-points. Multi-level modelling revealed positive mood was associated with in-vivo reports of flow in gameplay, current context and individual-level variance in the number of hours typically spent engaged in playing per week. Specifically, in-vivo positive mood was higher for players when playing online with friends (relative to those playing solo). Higher reports of flow were, nonetheless, associated with decreases in positive mood. Finally, players who indicated playing less frequently experienced higher positive mood, relative to those who played more. These findings support and extend previous work which explores the emotional affordances of gaming and highlight the importance of obtaining situated measures of experiences. They demonstrate that positive mood in gaming is not static, but changeable depending on one’s current gaming environment and flow.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Katherine Kaye ◽  
Jo Bryce

This study examined differences in flow experiences and post-gameplay Positive and Negative Mood between solo and social digital gaming. This was achieved by obtaining gamers’ (N = 302) retrospective ratings of the experience of flow and post-gameplay mood based on recent solo and social gaming experiences, through the use of an online questionnaire. Positive mood was found to be significantly higher following social compared with solo gameplay, suggesting that playing games with others enhances enjoyment of the activity. Different levels of flow in gameplay were also found to be related to positive mood following both solo and social gameplay. There were no observed differences in experiences of flow and post-gameplay mood between online and offline, or competitive and cooperative gaming contexts. The findings suggest that “group flow” may be a useful concept in understanding the dynamics of social gaming as this has not been sufficiently examined in the current videogame literature.


2018 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 45-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda K. Kaye ◽  
Rebecca L. Monk ◽  
Helen J. Wall ◽  
Iain Hamlin ◽  
Adam W. Qureshi
Keyword(s):  

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (37) ◽  
pp. 4888-4902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilda D'Urso ◽  
Sonia Piacente ◽  
Cosimo Pizza ◽  
Paola Montoro

The consumption of berry-type fruits has become very popular in recent years because of their positive effects on human health. Berries are in fact widely known for their health-promoting benefits, including prevention of chronic disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Berries are a rich source of bioactive metabolites, such as vitamins, minerals, and phenolic compounds, mainly anthocyanins. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies recognized the health effects of berries and their function as bioactive modulators of various cell functions associated with oxidative stress. Plants have one of the largest metabolome databases, with over 1200 papers on plant metabolomics published only in the last decade. Mass spectrometry (MS) and NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) are the most important analytical technologies on which the emerging ''omics'' approaches are based. They may provide detection and quantization of thousands of biologically active metabolites from a tissue, working in a ''global'' or ''targeted'' manner, down to ultra-trace levels. In the present review, we highlighted the use of MS and NMR-based strategies and Multivariate Data Analysis for the valorization of berries known for their biological activities, important as food and often used in the preparation of nutraceutical formulations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (16) ◽  
pp. 1918-1926
Author(s):  
Fahimeh H. Beigi ◽  
Soheil Fatahian ◽  
Sogand Shahbazi-Gahrouei ◽  
Daryoush Shahbazi-Gahrouei ◽  
Amin Farzadniya

Objective: Polydopamine coated iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4@PDA NPs) were synthesized, characterized, and their MR imaging contrast agents and photothermal potency were evaluated on melanoma (B16-F10 and A-375) cells and normal skin cells. To this end, MTT assay, Fe concentration, and MR imaging of both coated and uncoated NPs were assessed in C57BL/6 mice. Methods: Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized using co-precipitation, and coated with polydopamine. The cytotoxicity of Fe3O4 and Fe3O4@PDA NPs on melanoma cells, with different concentrations, were obtained using MTT assay. MR images and Fe concentrations of nanoprobe and nanoparticles were evaluated under in vivo conditions. Results: Findings indicated that uncoated Fe3O4 showed the highest toxicity in animal (B16-F10) cells at 450μg/ml after 72h, while the highest toxicity in human (A-375) cells were observed at 350μg/ml. These nanoparticles did not reveal any cytotoxicity to normal skin cells, despite having some toxicity features in A-375 cells. MR image signals in the tumor were low compared with other tissues. The iron concentration in the tumor was higher than that of other organs. Conclusion: It is concluded that the cytotoxicity of Fe3O4@PDA was found to be significantly lower than uncoated nanoparticles (p <0.001), which allows some positive effects on reducing toxicity. The prepared nanoprobe may be used as a contrast agent in MR imaging.


Author(s):  
Liisa Andersen ◽  
Sus Sola Corazon ◽  
Ulrika Karlsson Stigsdotter

Given the drastic changes in our lifestyles and ecosystems worldwide, the potential health effects of natural environments have grown into a highly pervasive topic. Recent scientific findings suggest beneficial effects from nature exposure on human immune responses. This review aims at providing a comprehensive overview of literature published on immunomodulatory effects of nature exposure by inhalation of natural substances. A systematic database search was performed in SCOPUS and PubMed. The quality and potential bias of included studies (n = 33) were assessed by applying the EPHPP (Effective Public Health Practice Project) tool for human studies and the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) and SYRCLE (Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation) tools for animal studies. The synthesis of reviewed studies points to positive effects of nature exposure on immunological health parameters; such as anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anti-asthmatic effects or increased NK (natural killer) cell activity. Decreased expression of pro-inflammatory molecules, infiltration of leukocytes and release of cytotoxic mediators are outcomes that may serve as a baseline for further studies. However, partially weak study designs evoked uncertainties about outcome reproducibility and key questions remain open concerning effect sizes, duration of exposure and contributions of specific vegetation or ecosystem types.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 708
Author(s):  
Radek Sleha ◽  
Vera Radochova ◽  
Jiri Malis ◽  
Alexander Mikyska ◽  
Milan Houska ◽  
...  

Staphylococcus (S.) aureus is an important causative agent of wound infections with increasing incidence in the past decades. Specifically, the emergence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) causes serious problems, especially in nosocomial infections. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop of alternative or supportive antimicrobial therapeutic modalities to meet these challenges. Purified compounds from hops have previously shown promising antimicrobial effects against MRSA isolates in vitro. In this study, purified beta-acids from hops were tested for their potential antimicrobial and healing properties using a porcine model of wounds infected by MRSA. The results show highly significant antimicrobial effects of the active substance in both the powder and Ambiderman-based application forms compared to both no-treatment control and treatment with Framycoin. Moreover, the macroscopic evaluation of the wounds during the treatment using the standardized Wound Healing Continuum indicated positive effects of the beta-acids on the overall wound healing. This is further supported by the microscopic data, which showed a clear improvement of the inflammatory parameters in the wounds treated by beta-acids. Thus, using the porcine model, we demonstrate significant therapeutic effects of hops compounds in the management of wounds infected by MRSA. Beta-acids from hops, therefore, represent a suitable candidate for the treatment of non-responsive nosocomial tissue infections by MRSA.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 921
Author(s):  
Yoshihito Suda ◽  
Nana Sasaki ◽  
Kyoma Kagawa ◽  
Mariano Elean ◽  
Binghui Zhou ◽  
...  

Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii TUA4408L is able to differentially modulate the innate immune response of porcine intestinal epithelial cells triggered by TLR4 activation. This strain also has a remarkable ability to grow on plant substrates. These two immunological and biotechnological characteristics prompted us to evaluate whether the soymilk by-product okara fermented with the TUA4408L strain can serve as an immunobiotic feed with the ability to beneficially modulate the intestinal immunity of piglets after weaning to improve their productivity. Our in vivo studies demonstrated that the administration of immunobiotic TUA4408L-fermented okara feed significantly increased piglet growth performance and meat quality. These positive effects were associated with the ability of the TUA4408L-fermented okara feed to beneficially modulate both intestinal microbiota and immunity in pigs. The immunobiotic feed improved the abundance of the beneficial bacteria Lactobacillus and Lactococcus in the gut of pigs, reduced blood markers of inflammation, and differentially regulated the expression of inflammatory and regulatory cytokines in the intestinal mucosa. These findings indicate that the immunobiotic TUA4408L-fermented okara feed could be an economical and environmentally friendly option to improve the growth performance and immune health of pigs.


1997 ◽  
Vol 171 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Muris ◽  
Harald Merckelbach ◽  
Hans Van Haaften ◽  
Birgit Mayer

BackgroundEye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) is a relatively new therapeutic technique that has been proposed as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety complaints.MethodWe compared the efficacy of EMDR with that of exposure in viv. in the treatment of a specific phobia. Twenty-two spider-phobic children who met the DSM – III – R criteria for specific phobia participated in the study. Children were treated with one session of exposure in viv. and one session of EMDR in a crossover design. Treatment outcome was evaluated by self-report measures, a behavioural avoidance test and a physiological index (skin conductance level).ResultsResults showed positive effects of EMDR, but also suggest that it is especially self-report measures that are sensitive to EMDR. Improvement on a behavioural measure was less pronounced, and exposure in viv. was found to be superior in reducing avoidance behaviour. With regard to skin conductance level, EMDR and exposure in viv. did not differ.ConclusionsEMDR has no additional value in treatment of this type of animal phobia, for which exposure in viv. is the treatment of choice.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 4291
Author(s):  
Santina Chiechio ◽  
Magda Zammataro ◽  
Massimo Barresi ◽  
Margherita Amenta ◽  
Gabriele Ballistreri ◽  
...  

Citrus fruits are a rich source of high-value bioactive compounds and their consumption has been associated with beneficial effects on human health. Red (blood) oranges (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) are particularly rich in anthocyanins (95% of which are represented by cyanidin-3-glucoside and cyanidin-3-6″-malonyl-glucoside), flavanones (hesperidin, narirutin, and didymin), and hydroxycinnamic acids (caffeic acid, coumaric acid, sinapic, and ferulic acid). Lemon fruit (Citrus limon) is also rich in flavanones (eriocitrin, hesperidin, and diosmin) and other polyphenols. All of these compounds are believed to play a very important role as dietary antioxidants due to their ability to scavenge free radicals. A standardized powder extract, red orange and lemon extract (RLE), was obtained by properly mixing anthocyanins and other polyphenols recovered from red orange processing waste with eriocitrin and other flavanones recovered from lemon peel by a patented extraction process. RLE was used for in vivo assays aimed at testing a potential beneficial effect on glucose and lipid metabolism. In vivo experiments performed on male CD1 mice fed with a high-fat diet showed that an 8-week treatment with RLE was able to induce a significant reduction in glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides levels in the blood, with positive effects on regulation of hyperglycemia and lipid metabolism, thus suggesting a potential use of this new phytoextract for nutraceutical purposes.


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