scholarly journals Exploring the role of the behavioral immune system in acceptability of entomophagy using semantic associations and food-related attitudes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Qian ◽  
Yuki Yamada
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Processed Food ◽  
Semantic Association ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
The World ◽  
Semantic Associations ◽  
Multiple Domains

Entomophagy refers to eating insects. Insect food, including cooked insects and other processed food with insect-based ingredients, is consumed in many regions of the world as a part of traditional dietary behavior, or as innovative functional food. However, many people especially in western or industrialized societies have shown negative attitudes such as resistance or disgust to entomophagy. In this study, we examined the acceptability of eating insects from the context of the behavioral immune system (BIS), by employing a questionnaire survey and picture-based semantic association experiment. We collected data from 1369 Japanese participants (581 females and 788 males, mean age = 43.41 years, SD = 10.44 years) by conducting an online survey. The results revealed the influence of the behavioral immune system on entomophagy: The semantic associations between insect food and non-insect food, and between insect food and pathogens were significantly predicted by multiple domains related to the attitudes, concerns, and experience of food and pathogens. The semantic associations between insect food and pathogens were significantly stronger than other associations. People who concentrate on food safety and hygiene revealed fewer associations between insect food and non-insect food. These results indicated that promoting the sanitary and hygienic image of insect food may reduce revulsion at entomophagy and promote uptake.

scholarly journals Testing the Disgust-Based Mechanism of Homonegative Attitudes in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Szymkow ◽  
Natalia Frankowska ◽  
Katarzyna Galasinska
Keyword(s):  
System Theory ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Defense Mechanisms ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Perceived Vulnerability ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
Functional Flexibility ◽  
Sexual Disgust ◽  
Perceived Vulnerability To Disease

Negative attitudes and stigmatization can originate from the perception of a disease-related threat. Following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is often suggested that incidents of discriminatory behavior are the result of defense mechanisms aimed at avoiding pathogens. According to the behavioral immune system theory, people are motivated to distance themselves from individuals who show signs of infection, or who are only heuristically associated with a disease, primarily because of the disgust they evoke. In this paper we focus on negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians who are among social groups that have been persistently framed as “unclean.” In our correlational study (N = 500 heterosexual participants; Polish sample data collected during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Poland, in March/April 2020) we tested moderation models derived from the behavioral immune system theory. Specifically, we investigated whether perceived vulnerability to disease and perceived threat of contracting COVID-19 moderate the relation between disgust and homonegativity. We found that sexual disgust (but not pathogen nor moral disgust) predicted homonegative attitudes. This effect was stronger for participants expressing higher levels of perceived vulnerability to disease but was not dependent on the perception of the COVID-19 threat. The results reaffirm previous evidence indicating a pivotal role of disgust in disease-avoidance mechanisms. They also point to functional flexibility of the behavioral immune system by demonstrating the moderating role of perceived vulnerability to disease in shaping homonegative attitudes. Finally, they show that the threat of COVID-19 does not strengthen the relationship between disgust and homonegativity.

scholarly journals Perceptions of the Importance of Sleep in Common Cold—Two Online Questionnaire-Based Surveys

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 596-605
Author(s):  
Gill Phillipson ◽  
Sue Aspley ◽  
Ingo Fietze
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Common Cold ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Symptom Relief ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
The Common ◽  
Waking Up

Abstract Sleep deprivation affects the immune system and can render subjects more susceptible to symptoms associated with the common cold. The aim of this research was to investigate cold sufferers’ and doctors’ perceptions of the role of sleep in recovery from cold/flu. An online survey of 4000 adults who had suffered from cold/flu in the previous 12 months was conducted in eight countries and an online survey of 150 doctors was conducted in Germany. Responses were collected to questions regarding aspects of life affected by, and concerns while suffering from, cold/flu symptoms including nighttime awakening and actions taken to aid recovery. Responses were also collected to questions regarding advice given to cold/flu patients and the importance of sleep. Ability to sleep well was widely reported as negatively impacted by cold/flu (mean 46.1% of respondents across eight countries), especially in Western Europe, and inability to sleep well was a frequently reported concern associated with suffering from cold/flu (21.8%). To sleep more than usual was a frequently reported action taken to feel better (40.5%). Ninety-four percent of respondents reported waking up at night because of symptoms, cough being the most frequently reported symptom to awaken respondents. There was evidence of a possible relationship between sleep quality and medication taken at night for symptom relief. Countries with the highest proportions of respondents who reported sleep to be the aspect of life most negatively affected by a cold (France, Germany and Italy) were also those with the lowest proportions of respondents who reported that taking medications at night was the most effective way of getting back to sleep after waking due to cold symptoms. The majority of doctors believed sleep helped cold/flu patients to recover faster and that a good night’s sleep was important. Sleep is widely considered to be important in promoting recovery from cold/flu. Hence, the relief of symptoms that disrupt sleep is also likely to be important for a faster recovery.

Looking into a New Challenge, DKA and Covid-19 A Review on Pediatric DKA Cases during New Coronavirus Pandemic Who is to Blame, the Virus or Health System?

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 01-04
Author(s):  
Vida Tajiknia ◽  
Maryam Ghandali ◽  
Ardavan Ahmadvand ◽  
Ali Afrasiabi ◽  
Reza Pirdehghan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Virus Infection ◽  
Pediatric Patients ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
Diabetes Type ◽  
Diabetes Type 1 ◽  
The World ◽  
Existing Data

Since the first month of this new pandemic situation, all around the world healthcare system has been facing different challenges and difficulties; patients with chronic diseases such as cancer or diabetes with impaired immune system were at greater risk of infections and complications. It goes without saying that this issue was extremely important among pediatric clinicians dealing with diabetic pediatrics. Diabetes is the number one chronic illness among pediatric patients and the most dangerous and frightened complication of it is Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). Studies have shown a strong association between pandemic and increase in new diabetes type 1 cases and its lethal complication called DKA. Here we are going to take a look at existing data and report about cases with this condition trying to find the missing piece of a big puzzle; what is the role of Covid-19 in causing Diabetes in previously healthy kids and what is the real association between SARS-COV2 virus infection and DKA? We are going to review different studies, possible mechanism, new t1dm cases and old cases, with or without covid infection, DKA cases and its severity.

scholarly journals The Behavioral Immune System Shapes Political Intuitions: Why and How Individual Differences in Disgust Sensitivity Underlie Opposition to Immigration

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
LENE AARØE ◽  
MICHAEL BANG PETERSEN ◽  
KEVIN ARCENEAUX
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
First Time ◽  
Representative Samples

We present, test, and extend a theoretical framework that connects disgust, a powerful basic human emotion, to political attitudes through psychological mechanisms designed to protect humans from disease. These mechanisms work outside of conscious awareness, and in modern environments, they can motivate individuals to avoid intergroup contact by opposing immigration. We report a meta-analysis of previous tests in the psychological sciences and conduct, for the first time, a series of tests in nationally representative samples collected in the United States and Denmark that integrate the role of disgust and the behavioral immune system into established models of emotional processing and political attitude formation. In doing so, we offer an explanation for why peaceful integration and interaction between ethnic majority and minorities is so hard to achieve.

The Behavioral Immune System and Attitudes About Vaccines

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russ Clay
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Disgust Sensitivity ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
The Future ◽  
Sources Of Contamination

The present research utilized evolutionary theory to examine the relation between the behavioral immune system (i.e., disgust sensitivity) and attitudes about vaccines. The findings from the studies suggest that higher levels of dispositional disgust sensitivity is predictive of more negative attitudes toward vaccines. These findings are consistent with several recent publications and thus have broad implications for public health research associated with vaccines. In Study 1, participants reporting higher dispositional disgust sensitivity (specifically, contamination disgust) tended to report more negative attitudes about vaccines. Study 2 replicated this result in a nonstudent sample using additional measures of disgust sensitivity more closely associated with aversion to perceived sources of contamination. Study 2 also revealed that beliefs about the likelihood of contracting illness in the future were unrelated to vaccine attitudes. Implications for the observed relation between intuitive aversion to contamination and vaccine attitudes are discussed.

scholarly journals Milieu Relevance of Melanin’s Antiviral Effects and Interventions to the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Institutional Racism ◽  
Preventative Treatment ◽  
Dietary Practices ◽  
Antiviral Effects ◽  
The World

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected melanin dominant people, while on the continent of Africa, this novel strain does not appear to have decimated the population. Contrary to many scientific expectations, native Africans on the continent are less impacted compared to the global number of infections in other regions of the world. Therefore, an analysis of the role of melanin and milieu should be assessed by healthcare providers who have a concern for melanin-dominant populations. Questions are raised that Melanin has antiviral effects and there are additional factors derived from comorbidity that impact the susceptibility to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) embedded in institutional racism (aka the system of white supremacy-Milieu). Dietary practices, access to healthcare, lifestyle and genetics can influence the severity of illnesses associated with contracting this virulent coronavirus via intense erratic activation of the immune system among those subjected to a plethora of chronic societal stressors. In summary, this article will address the effects of this crisis on people of African descent and suggest alternative treatments as an intermediary, rather than exclusive reliance on a vaccine as preventative treatment. The relevance of such discourse is critical given America’s medical history, which has fostered profound distrust among her melanin-dominant citizenry.

UNPUBLISHED, REJECTED MANUSCRIPT NOT TO BE RESUBMITTED: Infection and ideology- Perceived vulnerability to disease predicts political conservatism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph A Vitriol
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
The Political ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Perceived Vulnerability ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Conservatism ◽  
Perceived Vulnerability To Disease ◽  
Political Right

Recent research on the behavioral immune system suggests that perceived vulnerability to disease is associated with greater ingroup preference, conformity, and support for established cultural practices. However, little of this research has looked at the implications of perceived vulnerability to disease for an orientation linked to many of the above outcomes: ideology. In two studies, we test the hypothesis that perceived vulnerability to disease should be associated with greater political conservatism. In Study 1, we find a relationship between perceived vulnerability to disease and increases in conservatism over time. In Study 2, we use data from the World Values Survey to demonstrate that perceived vulnerability to disease predicts a stronger preference for the political right in a large sample of respondents from a wide variety of nations. Together, these results suggest that the consequences of the behavioral immune system may extend to abstract identifications like ideology.

Role of Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs in Strengthening immune system against the newly Emerging Viral Disease SARS-CoV-2

2021 ◽  
pp. 309-315
Author(s):  
Ajay I. Patel ◽  
Pooja R. Maru ◽  
Ashok B. Patel ◽  
Amitkumar J. Vyas ◽  
Nilesh K. Patel
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Viral Infection ◽  
Viral Disease ◽  
The Body ◽  
Primary Stage ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection Attack mainly on the immune system of the body. The current pandemic situation of COVID-19 has broken the social-economical Condition of the World. The Available Allopathic drug Paramedical system is attempting to manage the symptoms. But, there are no significant effects of the available drug system. So, it is better to move toward a supplement system that improves the body's immune system. Herbs, Minerals, and Vitamins can be boosting body immunity and prevent the respiratory Viral Disease SARS-CoV-2. It gives its response in the Primary Stage of COVID-19. So, it is better to towards the natural herbals, Minerals, and vitamins which can improve the immunity of the body and it can possibly prevent the viral infection.

scholarly journals Autoimmune Disorders & COVID-19

Medicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Leonardo Freire-de-Lima ◽  
Aline Miranda Scovino ◽  
Camilla Cristie Barreto Menezes ◽  
Leonardo Marques da Fonseca ◽  
Jhenifer Santos dos Reis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Respiratory Failure ◽  
Autoimmune Disease ◽  
Severe Pneumonia ◽  
Type I ◽  
Cytokine Storm ◽  
Immunological Mechanisms ◽  
The World ◽  
Inflammatory Syndrome

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can progress to severe pneumonia with respiratory failure and is aggravated by the deregulation of the immune system causing an excessive inflammation including the cytokine storm. Since 2019, several studies regarding the interplay between autoimmune diseases and COVID-19 infections is increasing all over the world. In addition, thanks to new scientific findings, we actually know better why certain conditions are considered a higher risk in both situations. There are instances when having an autoimmune disease increases susceptibility to COVID-19 complications, such as when autoantibodies capable of neutralizing type I IFN are present, and other situations in which having COVID-19 infection precedes the appearance of various autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases, including multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), Guillain-Barré syndrome, and Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA), thus, adding to the growing mystery surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 virus and raising questions about the nature of its link with autoimmune and autoinflammatory sequelae. Herein, we discuss the role of host and virus genetics and some possible immunological mechanisms that might lead to the disease aggravation.

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