scholarly journals Effects of Oxytocin on Social Comparisons in Intergroup Situations

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1227
Author(s):  
Eun Young Kim ◽  
Sunhae Sul ◽  
Min Woo Lee ◽  
Kyung-Ok Lim ◽  
Na Young Shin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Condition ◽  
Group Versus ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Placebo Treatment ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Acceptance Rate ◽  
Card Game ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Group Member

Oxytocin (OXT) is known to affect various social processes, including social comparisons and intergroup competition. In this study, we examined whether social comparisons in intergroup situations can be modulated by OXT and, if so, how this modulation manifests. Using a double-blind placebo-controlled design, we randomly assigned male participants to either OXT or placebo treatment and then asked them to play a card game with either an in-group or an out-group member. The OXT-treated participants showed a greater social comparison effect in the games with an out-group member than in games with an in-group member. Specifically, the participants in the OXT treatment condition showed a greater acceptance rate for relative gain (downward comparison) and a lower acceptance rate for relative loss (upward comparison) while playing with an out-group member rather than an in-group member. In contrast, no such effect was observed among placebo-treated participants. These findings demonstrate that OXT facilitates intergroup social comparisons with out-group versus in-group members.

A Group-Based Walking Study to Enhance Physical Activity Among Older Adults: The Role of Social Engagement

2020 ◽  
pp. 016402752096361
Author(s):  
Yujun Liu ◽  
Margie E. Lachman
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Treatment Condition ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Group Members

Objectives. The aim of this study was to explore social engagement and social comparisons as mechanisms to increase physical activity among older adults. Methods. Participants (N = 60, mean age = 65.7) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. Participants in the treatment condition used the application to track their daily walking steps and interact via text messages with their group members for 4 weeks. Participants in the control group used the application only to track their own walking steps. Outcome variables included mean weekly steps, exercise self-efficacy, and social engagement. Results. The results revealed that participants in the experimental condition significantly increased their mean weekly steps and social engagement from the pretest to the posttest whereas the control group did not. These effects were maintained at the 1-month follow up. Discussion. The study expands our understanding of the motivational role of social engagement and social comparison in increasing PA among older adults.

scholarly journals Phase II, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Studies of Ruprintrivir Nasal Spray 2-Percent Suspension for Prevention and Treatment of Experimentally Induced Rhinovirus Colds in Healthy Volunteers

2003 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 3907-3916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick G. Hayden ◽  
Ronald B. Turner ◽  
Jack M. Gwaltney ◽  
Kathy Chi-Burris ◽  
Merril Gersten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
Healthy Volunteers ◽  
Group Versus ◽  
Placebo Treatment ◽  
Pharmacokinetic Analysis ◽  
Nasal Discharge ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Placebo Treatment Group ◽  
Double Blind Placebo ◽  
Viral Titers

ABSTRACT Human rhinovirus (HRV) infections are usually self-limited but may be associated with serious consequences, particularly in those with asthma and chronic respiratory disease. Effective antiviral agents are needed for preventing and treating HRV illnesses. Ruprintrivir (Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., San Diego, Calif.) selectively inhibits HRV 3C protease and shows potent, broad-spectrum anti-HRV activity in vitro. We conducted three double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials in 202 healthy volunteers to assess the activity of ruprintrivir in experimental HRV infection. Subjects were randomized to receive intranasal ruprintrivir (8 mg) or placebo sprays as prophylaxis (two or five times daily [2×/day or 5×/day] for 5 days) starting 6 h before infection or as treatment (5×/day for 4 days) starting 24 h after infection. Ruprintrivir prophylaxis reduced the proportion of subjects with positive viral cultures (for 5×/day dosing groups, 44% for ruprintrivir treatment group versus 70% for placebo treatment group [P = 0.03]; for 2×/day dosing groups, 60% for ruprintrivir group versus 92% for placebo group [P = 0.004]) and viral titers but did not decrease the frequency of colds. Ruprintrivir treatment reduced the mean total daily symptom score (2.2 for ruprintrivir treatment group and 3.3 for the placebo treatment group [P = 0.014]) by 33%. Secondary endpoints, including viral titers, individual symptom scores, and nasal discharge weights, were also reduced by ruprintrivir treatment. Overall, ruprintrivir was well tolerated; blood-tinged mucus and nasal passage irritation were the most common adverse effects reported. Pharmacokinetic analysis of plasma and nasal ruprintrivir concentrations revealed intranasal drug residence with minimal systemic absorption. Results from these studies in experimental rhinoviral infection support continued investigation of intranasal ruprintrivir in the setting of natural HRV infection.

Monitoring Moral Virtue: When the Moral Transgressions of In-Group Members Are Judged More Severely

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karim Bettache ◽  
Takeshi Hamamura ◽  
Joubyr Amrani Idrissi ◽  
Ruben George Jonathan Amenyogbo ◽  
Chi-yue Chiu
Keyword(s):  
Moral Virtue ◽  
Group Versus ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Group Cohesiveness ◽  
Moral Standards ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Moral Transgressions ◽  
Group Member ◽  
Moral Transgression

Literature indicates that people tend to judge the moral transgressions committed by out-group members more severely than those of in-group members. However, these transgressions often conflate a moral transgression with some form of intergroup harm. There is little research examining in-group versus out-group transgressions of harmless offenses, which violate moral standards that bind people together (binding foundations). As these moral standards center around group cohesiveness, a transgression committed by an in-group member may be judged more severely. The current research presented Dutch Muslims (Study 1), American Christians (Study 2), and Indian Hindus (Study 3) with a set of fictitious stories depicting harmless and harmful moral transgressions. Consistent with our expectations, participants who strongly identified with their religious community judged harmless moral offenses committed by in-group members, relative to out-group members, more severely. In contrast, this effect was absent when participants judged harmful moral transgressions. We discuss the implications of these results.

scholarly journals Children’s and Adults’ Affectionate Generosity Toward Members of Different Religious Groups

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (14) ◽  
pp. 1910-1937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larisa Heiphetz ◽  
Liane L. Young
Keyword(s):  
Group Versus ◽  
Intergroup Attitudes ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Religious People ◽  
Group Characters ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Group Member

This article examines children’s and adults’ willingness to give a nonmonetary resource—affection—to in-group versus out-group members. In a study of attitudes toward Christian, Jewish, and non-religious people, religious participants—children as well as adults—reported that the religious out-group member was more like them and more likeable than the non-religious character, despite the fact that both characters were members of an out-group. Non-religious participants did not distinguish between out-group characters in response to these questions. Although these patterns emerged among both children and adults, we also found that children reported more affection toward Christian characters than did adults. We discuss implications of the results for the study of generosity as well as for intergroup attitudes, religious cognition, and development.

scholarly journals Acute systemic experimental inflammation does not reduce human odor identification performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Tognetti ◽  
G Sarolidou ◽  
J Lasselin ◽  
M Lekander ◽  
M J Olsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systemic Inflammation ◽  
Inflammatory Diseases ◽  
Placebo Treatment ◽  
Olfactory Dysfunction ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Common Symptom ◽  
Identification Performance ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Olfactory Identification ◽  
Factor Α

Abstract Olfactory dysfunction is a common symptom of various diseases but the underlying pathophysiology has not been fully understood. Evidence from both animal and human studies suggests that local inflammation of the olfactory epithelium is linked to olfactory dysfunction. However, whether systemic inflammation causes olfactory dysfunction is yet to be determined. In the present behavioral study, we set out to test whether acute systemic inflammation impairs olfactory identification performance by inducing a transient and controlled state of systemic inflammation using an experimental endotoxemia model. We treated young, otherwise healthy, participants (N=20) with a relatively high dose (2.0 ng/kg) of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and a placebo treatment in a double-blind within-subject design, and assessed participants’ ability to identify odors using the MONEX-40, a reliable method for experimental assessment of odor ID ability in healthy and young individuals. Our results show that olfactory identification performance was not affected by the acute systemic inflammation triggered by the injection of LPS. Moreover, no associations were found between the change of olfactory performance followed by LPS injection and levels of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and tumor necrosis factor-α). Because experimental LPS-induced systemic inflammation does not affect olfactory identification performance, our findings suggest that chronic, rather than transient, systemic inflammation is a more likely mechanism to explore in order to explain the olfactory deficits observed in inflammatory diseases.

Clinical and attentional effects of acute nicotine treatment in Tourette’s syndrome

2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne L. Howson ◽  
Sue Batth ◽  
Vadim Ilivitsky ◽  
Armand Boisjoli ◽  
Martine Jaworski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Placebo Treatment ◽  
Tourette's Syndrome ◽  
Tourette’S Syndrome ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Open Label ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Nicotine Treatment ◽  
Related Potentials

AbstractEvidence from pre-clinical infrahuman investigations, open-label clinical trials, and a single controlled trial found acute nicotine treatment potentiated up to 4 weeks neuroleptic-induced reductions of dyskinetic symptoms characterizing Tourette’s syndrome (TS). Given the attentional disturbances associated with this syndrome, and the improvements in attentional processes reported with nicotine, this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial examined the acute (4 h) and sustained (2 weeks) effects of a single dose of transdermal nicotine on clinical (i.e., tics), attentional (continuous performance task, event-related potentials, patient and parental reports) and behavioral symptoms in 23 children and adolescents with TS receiving neuroleptic treatment. In the 14 evaluable patients with complete primary efficacy data, nicotine (compared to placebo) failed to alter symptoms at 4 h but counteracted ERP-P300 signs of diminished attention seen 2 weeks following placebo treatment. Secondary efficacy measures, including patient self-reports and parental ratings, found nicotine to reduce complex tics and improve behaviors related to inattention. Additional work with intermittent dosing schedules is required to characterize optimal clinical and cognitive effects with nicotine treatment.

scholarly journals Randomized phase 2 study of FcRn antagonist efgartigimod in generalized myasthenia gravis

Neurology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (23) ◽  
pp. e2661-e2673 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F. Howard ◽  
Vera Bril ◽  
Ted M. Burns ◽  
Renato Mantegazza ◽  
Malgorzata Bilinska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Events ◽  
Myasthenia Gravis ◽  
Vital Signs ◽  
Standard Of Care ◽  
Placebo Treatment ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Severity Scores ◽  
Quality Of Life Scale ◽  
Life Scale

ObjectiveTo investigate safety and explore efficacy of efgartigimod (ARGX-113), an anti-neonatal Fc receptor immunoglobulin G1 Fc fragment, in patients with generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) with a history of anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) autoantibodies, who were on stable standard-of-care myasthenia gravis (MG) treatment.MethodsA phase 2, exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 15-center study is described. Eligible patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive 4 doses over a 3-week period of either 10 mg/kg IV efgartigimod or matched placebo combined with their standard-of-care therapy. Primary endpoints were safety and tolerability. Secondary endpoints included efficacy (change from baseline to week 11 of Myasthenia Gravis Activities of Daily Living, Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis, and Myasthenia Gravis Composite disease severity scores, and of the revised 15-item Myasthenia Gravis Quality of Life scale), pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and immunogenicity.ResultsOf the 35 screened patients, 24 were enrolled and randomized: 12 received efgartigimod and 12 placebo. Efgartigimod was well-tolerated in all patients, with no serious or severe adverse events reported, no relevant changes in vital signs or ECG findings observed, and no difference in adverse events between efgartigimod and placebo treatment. All patients treated with efgartigimod showed a rapid decrease in total immunoglobulin G (IgG) and anti-AChR autoantibody levels, and assessment using all 4 efficacy scales consistently demonstrated that 75% showed a rapid and long-lasting disease improvement.ConclusionsEfgartigimod was safe and well-tolerated. The correlation between reduction of levels of pathogenic IgG autoantibodies and disease improvement suggests that reducing pathogenic autoantibodies with efgartigimod may offer an innovative approach to treat MG.Classification of evidenceThis study provides Class I evidence that efgartigimod is safe and well-tolerated in patients with gMG.

Occipital nerve block for the short-term preventive treatment of migraine: A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study

Cephalalgia ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 959-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esma Dilli ◽  
Rashmi Halker ◽  
Bert Vargas ◽  
Joseph Hentz ◽  
Teresa Radam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Migraine ◽  
Nerve Block ◽  
Preventive Treatment ◽  
Placebo Treatment ◽  
Baseline Period ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Occipital Nerve ◽  
Occipital Nerve Block ◽  
Severe Migraine

Background Occipital nerve (ON) injections with corticosteroids and/or local anesthetics have been employed for the acute and preventive treatment of migraine for decades. However, to date there is no randomized, placebo-controlled evidence to support the use of occipital nerve block (ONB) for the prevention of migraine. Objective The objective of this article is to determine the efficacy of ONB with local anesthetic and corticosteroid for the preventive treatment of migraine. Participants and methods Patients between 18 and 75 years old with ICHD-II-defined episodic (> 1 attack per week) or chronic migraine (modified ICHD-II as patients with > 10 days with consumption of acute medications were permitted into the study) were randomized to receive either 2.5 ml 0.5% bupivacaine plus 0.5 ml (20 mg) methylprednisolone over the ipsilateral (unilateral headache) or bilateral (bilateral headache) ON or 2.75 ml normal saline plus 0.25 ml 1% lidocaine without epinephrine (placebo). Patients completed a one-month headache diary prior to and after the double-blind injection. The primary outcome measure was defined as a 50% or greater reduction in the frequency of days with moderate or severe migraine headache in the four-week post-injection compared to the four-week pre-injection baseline period. Results Thirty-four patients received active and 35 patients received placebo treatment. Because of missing data, the full analysis of 33 patients in the active and 30 patients in the placebo group was analyzed for efficacy. In the active and placebo groups respectively, the mean frequency of at least moderate (mean 9.8 versus 9.5) and severe (3.6 versus 4.3) migraine days and acute medication days (7.9 versus 10.0) were not substantially different at baseline. The percentage of patients with at least a 50% reduction in the frequency of moderate or severe headache days was 30% for both groups (10/30 vs nine of 30, Δ 0.00, 95% CI –0.22 to 0.23). Conclusions Greater ONB does not reduce the frequency of moderate to severe migraine days in patients with episodic or chronic migraine compared to placebo. The study was registered with ClinicalTrial.gov (NCT00915473).

scholarly journals Peer-Review Declaration

2021 ◽  
Vol 869 (1) ◽  
pp. 011003
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Review Process ◽  
Acceptance Rate ◽  
Preliminary Review ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Conference Series ◽  
Scientific Standards

Abstract All papers published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing. • Type of peer review: Double-blind • Number of submissions received: 94 papers • Number of submissions sent for review: 94 papers • Number of submissions accepted: 74 papers • Acceptance Rate (Number of Submissions Accepted / Number of Submissions Received X 100): 78.72% • Average number of reviews per paper: 3 papers • Total number of reviewers involved: 31 reviewers • Any additional info on review process: 1. Preliminary review 2. The papers passed the first review will be reviewed again from the following aspects: originality, innovation, technical soundness, and applicability Ilham Zulfahmi Email: [email protected] Universitas Syiah Kuala

scholarly journals Peer review declaration

2021 ◽  
Vol 905 (1) ◽  
pp. 011002
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Review Process ◽  
Acceptance Rate ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Conference Management ◽  
Development Center ◽  
Scientific Standards ◽  
Maximum Threshold

All papers published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science have been peer-reviewed through processes administered by the Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing. • Type of peer review: Double-blind with the opportunity to resubmit after revisions • Conference submission management system: Microsoft’s Conference Management Toolkit (Microsoft CMT). The submission url is https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/User/Login?ReturnUrl=%2FICSAE2021 • Number of submissions received: 224 • Number of submissions sent for review: 198 • Number of submissions accepted: 148 • Acceptance Rate (Number of Submissions Accepted/Number of Submissions Received X 100): 66.07% • Average number of reviews per paper: 2 • Total number of reviewers involved: 18 • Any additional info on the review process: all papers were checked for its similarity using Turnitin, and 25% similar was set as maximum threshold. • Contact person for queries: Name: Prof. Sri Hartati Affiliation: Research and Development Center for Biotechnology and Biodiversity (P3BB) Universitas Sebelas Maret Email: [email protected]

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