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Nutrients Apr 2024Nutrition has been acknowledged as crucial in IBD and is relevant to patients' motives behind food choices, which are affected by health engagement (HE) and food...
Nutrition has been acknowledged as crucial in IBD and is relevant to patients' motives behind food choices, which are affected by health engagement (HE) and food involvement (FI). This study aimed to profile IBD patients according to their levels of health engagement and food involvement to identify patterns of different motives behind food choices, particularly regarding the use of food to regulate mood. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 890 Italian IBD patients who completed an online survey in April 2021. We measured health engagement, food involvement, motives behind food choices, emotional states, and food-related quality of life (Fr-QoL). K-means cluster analysis was performed to identify participants with similar levels of health engagement and food involvement. Four clusters were identified: "Health-conscious (high HE, low FI)", "Balanced (high HE, high FI)", "Hedonist (high FI, low HE)", and "Careless (low FI, low HE)". Clusters with high FI are inclined toward seeking pleasurable food, but when supported with high health engagement, individuals were less prone to use food to manage mood. Groups with higher health engagement demonstrated lower hospitalization rates and relapses and better Fr-QoL. Profiling IBD patients regarding FI and HE could aid clinicians in identifying individuals at greater risk of maladaptive food-related behaviors.
Topics: Humans; Male; Female; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Quality of Life; Middle Aged; Feeding Behavior; Food Preferences; Health Behavior; Surveys and Questionnaires; Motivation; Italy; Young Adult; Aged
PubMed: 38674876
DOI: 10.3390/nu16081185 -
Brain Sciences Mar 2024Similar to traditional imaging, virtual reality (VR) imagery encompasses nonstereoscopic (VR-2D) and stereoscopic (VR-3D) modes. Currently, Russell's emotional model has...
Similar to traditional imaging, virtual reality (VR) imagery encompasses nonstereoscopic (VR-2D) and stereoscopic (VR-3D) modes. Currently, Russell's emotional model has been extensively studied in traditional 2D and VR-3D modes, but there is limited comparative research between VR-2D and VR-3D modes. In this study, we investigate whether Russell's emotional model exhibits stronger brain activation states in VR-3D mode compared to VR-2D mode. By designing an experiment covering four emotional categories (high arousal-high pleasure (HAHV), high arousal-low pleasure (HALV), low arousal-low pleasure (LALV), and low arousal-high pleasure (LAHV)), EEG signals were collected from 30 healthy undergraduate and graduate students while watching videos in both VR modes. Initially, power spectral density (PSD) computations revealed distinct brain activation patterns in different emotional states across the two modes, with VR-3D videos inducing significantly higher brainwave energy, primarily in the frontal, temporal, and occipital regions. Subsequently, Differential entropy (DE) feature sets, selected via a dual ten-fold cross-validation Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier, demonstrate satisfactory classification accuracy, particularly superior in the VR-3D mode. The paper subsequently presents a deep learning-based EEG emotion recognition framework, adeptly utilizing the frequency, spatial, and temporal information of EEG data to improve recognition accuracy. The contribution of each individual feature to the prediction probabilities is discussed through machine-learning interpretability based on Shapley values. The study reveals notable differences in brain activation states for identical emotions between the two modes, with VR-3D mode showing more pronounced activation.
PubMed: 38671977
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14040326 -
Appetite Jul 2024Food choice behavior plays a large role in achieving sustainability goals. Meat in particular has a negative environmental impact as compared with plant-based food - and...
Food choice behavior plays a large role in achieving sustainability goals. Meat in particular has a negative environmental impact as compared with plant-based food - and is more frequently chosen in restaurant contexts. To increase plant-based meal choices in restaurants, we tested three nudges for menus that are likely to be implemented by restaurant owners: a hedonic label (e.g., artisanal vegetable burger), a chef's recommendation (specifying the vegetarian option as the chef's favorite), and a salience nudge (a box around the vegetarian option). In an online experiment, we showed participants (n = 513) in four conditions (no nudge, hedonic label, chef's recommendation, and salience nudge) five menus with four meal options each, one of which was vegetarian. We asked participants to choose a meal and subsequently to rate these meals on how tasty and indulgent they were (taste and indulgence attributions). We then revealed which nudge was used to the participants and asked how participants received it. Results show that the hedonic label and chef's recommendation nudge (but not the salience nudge) both increase vegetarian meal choices. The hedonic label increased participants' attributions of indulgence of the meal, but not of tastiness. This finding fits with restaurants' gastronomic, pleasure-seeking context and shapes future directions of labeling interventions, namely that indulgence attributions can be increased in vegetarian foods. Furthermore, the nudges were generally well accepted and participants' intention to return to the (virtual) restaurant was high. Finally, customers expected the hedonic label nudge to be more effective in promoting vegetarian food choices than the other two nudges, partially corresponding with our findings of actual effectiveness.
Topics: Humans; Restaurants; Male; Female; Choice Behavior; Food Preferences; Diet, Vegetarian; Adult; Young Adult; Meals; Middle Aged; Menu Planning; Adolescent; Food Labeling
PubMed: 38670347
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107376 -
Medicine Apr 2024Visual stimuli play key roles in influencing men sexual behavior. However, few studies have explored the sexual behavior of blind men. To provide more information about...
Visual stimuli play key roles in influencing men sexual behavior. However, few studies have explored the sexual behavior of blind men. To provide more information about blind men for the study of andrology by surveying the characteristics of their current sexual behavior. A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study design was performed. The questionnaire contained questions regarding demographic characteristics of participants, access to sexual knowledge, perception of the sexual partners' beauty, and sexual arousal. Blind men were interviewed face-to-face by the trained investigator. Complete questionnaires were collected from 54 participants, with an average age of 40.57 ± 9.80 years old. Eye diseases were the most frequent cause of blindness. In terms of sexual orientation, all participants were heterosexual. Notably, 90.7% of the participants reported to have had a sexual experience. Among those who had engaged in sexual behavior, 93.6% experienced sexual pleasure and 69.4% had a normal erectile function. Overall, 16.7% of the participants received sex education. The participants obtained sexual knowledge mainly through sounds from mobile phones, peer-to-peer communication, sounds of television and radio. Voice was the most frequent perception of the sexual partners' beauty, followed by figure, skin, and body fragrance. In terms of stimuli of sexual arousal, tactile sensation and auditory sensation in that order were the most frequent stimuli of sexual arousal. Stimuli of sexual arousal in blind men are mainly mediated by sound and touch. Blind men understand their sexual partners' beauty through auditory, tactile, and olfactory sensations. Blind men in Ganzhou lack formal and systematic sex education.
Topics: Humans; Male; Cross-Sectional Studies; Adult; Sexual Behavior; China; Middle Aged; Surveys and Questionnaires; Blindness; Sexual Arousal; Sexual Partners; Visually Impaired Persons; Sex Education
PubMed: 38669417
DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000037574 -
Journal of Intelligence Apr 2024We tested predictions deriving from the "Pleasure-Interest Model of Aesthetic Liking" (PIA Model), whereby aesthetic preferences arise from two fluency-based processes:...
We tested predictions deriving from the "Pleasure-Interest Model of Aesthetic Liking" (PIA Model), whereby aesthetic preferences arise from two fluency-based processes: an initial automatic, default process and a subsequent reflective process. One key trigger for reflective processing is stimulus complexity. Moreover, if meaning can be derived from such complexity, then this can engender increased and elevated liking. Experiment 1 involved graffiti street-art images, pre-normed to elicit low, moderate and high levels of interest. Subjective reports indicated a predicted enhancement in liking across increasing interest levels. Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings during image viewing revealed different patterns of alpha power in temporal brain regions across interest levels. Experiment 2 enforced a brief initial image-viewing stage and a subsequent reflective image-viewing stage. Differences in alpha power arose in most EEG channels between the initial and deliberative viewing stages. A linear increase in aesthetic liking was again seen across interest levels, with different patterns of alpha activity in temporal and occipital regions across these levels. Overall, the phenomenological data support the PIA Model, while the physiological data suggest that enhanced aesthetic liking might be associated with "flow-feelings" indexed by alpha activity in brain regions linked to visual attention and reducing distraction.
PubMed: 38667709
DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence12040042 -
Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) Apr 2024Compassion satisfaction, the pleasure gained from assisting others in their recovery from trauma, can help reduce the effects of burnout and secondary traumatic stress....
Compassion satisfaction, the pleasure gained from assisting others in their recovery from trauma, can help reduce the effects of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. As such, nurses' job satisfaction can be increased by increasing compassion satisfaction and decreasing compassion fatigue. This study examined the incidence of compassion fatigue and other influencing variables, such as compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress, among Saudi nurses. This was a cross-sectional study using convenience sampling. Participants comprised 177 registered nurses from various nursing departments. Data collection included the Professional Quality of Life Scale based on lifestyle, demographic details, and occupation-related questions. The averages of scores for the variables, compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress, were recorded (37.1 ± 7.4, 25.7 ± 7.5, and 26.7 ± 6.4). Participants aged 36 or older comprised a negative factor for compassion satisfaction, while years of nursing experience and higher job satisfaction were favorable predictors. Together, these three variables accounted for 30.3% of the overall variation. Low job satisfaction and poor sleep negatively affected burnout, accounting for 39.8% of the total variance. The results offer insights into identifying the risks of compassion fatigue in nurses and help design strategies to address burnout and secondary traumatic stress while enhancing their compassion satisfaction levels.
PubMed: 38667609
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare12080847 -
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland) Apr 2024The present study proves the construct validity of the German versions of the Feeling Scale (FS) and the Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) for measuring the affective responses...
The Affective Responses to Moderate Physical Activity: A Further Study to Prove the Convergent and the Discriminant Validity for the German Versions of the Feeling Scale and the Felt Arousal Scale.
The present study proves the construct validity of the German versions of the Feeling Scale (FS) and the Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) for measuring the affective responses (affective valence and arousal) for a moderate-intensity jogging (JG) exercise. In previous studies, both scales were validated for a high-intensity bicycle ergometer exercise and for relaxation techniques. In the present study, 194 participants performed the JG exercise for 45 min and completed the FS and the FAS, as well as the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), for a self-other comparison in a pre-test-intervention-post-test design. The results of the correlation analyses replicated the previous findings for the high-intensity bicycle ergometer exercise and the relaxation techniques, revealing significant positive correlations for the valence dimension between the FS and the SAM-Pleasure subscale ( = 0.50) and for the arousal dimension between the FAS and the SAM-Arousal subscale ( = 0.16). These findings suggest that the German versions of the FS and the FAS are also suitable for exercises of moderate intensity.
PubMed: 38667113
DOI: 10.3390/bs14040317 -
BioRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Apr 2024Cholinergic interneurons (ChIs) act as master regulators of striatal output, finely tuning neurotransmission to control motivated behaviors. ChIs are a cellular target...
Cholinergic interneurons (ChIs) act as master regulators of striatal output, finely tuning neurotransmission to control motivated behaviors. ChIs are a cellular target of many peptide and hormonal neuromodulators, including corticotropin releasing factor, opioids, insulin and leptin, which can influence an animal's behavior by signaling stress, pleasure, pain and nutritional status. However, little is known about how sex hormones via estrogen receptors influence the function of these other neuromodulators. Here, we performed in situ hybridization on mouse striatal tissue to characterize the effect of sex and sex hormones on choline acetyltransferase ( ), estrogen receptor alpha ( ), and corticotropin releasing factor type 1 receptor ( ) expression. Although we did not detect sex differences in ChAT protein levels in the striatum, we found that female mice have more mRNA-expressing neurons than males. At the population level, we observed a sexually dimorphic distribution of - and -expressing ChIs in the ventral striatum that demonstrates an antagonistic correlational relationship, which is abolished by ovariectomy. Only in the NAc did we find a significant population of ChIs that co-express and . At the cellular level, and transcript levels were negatively correlated only during estrus, indicating that changes in sex hormones levels can modulate the interaction between and mRNA levels. Together, these data provide evidence for the unique expression and interaction of and in ventral striatal ChIs, warranting further investigation into how these transcriptomic patterns might underlie important functions for ChIs at the intersection of stress and reproductive behaviors.
PubMed: 38659848
DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.13.589360 -
Heliyon Apr 2024Shenyu Ningshen (SYNS) tablet is the first pure Chinese medicinal small compound preparation approved for clinical trials for the treatment of depression in China....
CONTEXT
Shenyu Ningshen (SYNS) tablet is the first pure Chinese medicinal small compound preparation approved for clinical trials for the treatment of depression in China. Clinical experiments confirmed that the formulation had a significant Improvement effect against depression due to the deficiency of both qi and yin. It has been shown to exhibit noticeable anti-inflammatory effect in an animal model of depression. Our previous study showed that SYNS could effectively inhibit the inflammatory response in a depression model.
AIM OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effects of SYNS on neurons and explore whether the underlying mechanism was associated with A1s.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The depression model of solitary raising-chronic restraint stress (CRS) rats was established; body weight examination, sugar water preference test, open field test, and histological analysis were performed to preliminarily verify the efficacy of the formulation. Subsequently, neuronal nucleus (NeuN) and synaptic-associated proteins (MAP2 and PSD95) were labeled, and the protective effect of SYNS on hippocampal neurons was observed based on the fluorescence intensity of the above indicators. Western blotting, histological examination, and immunofluorescence were used to evaluate the inhibitory effects of SYNS on neuroinflammation and activation of A1s in CRS depression model.
RESULTS
SYNS improved behavioral indicators such as weight loss, pleasure loss, and reduced exercise volume in CRS rat model. SYNS restored the CRS-induced histopathological changes in the hippocampus. SYNS showed a certain degree of protective effect on synapses. Further, SYNS inhibited the activation of A1s by inhibiting neuroinflammatory factors in the hippocampus.
CONCLUSION
Our results showed that SYNS had a certain degree of neuroprotective effect, which might be related to its inhibition of the inflammatory response and A1s.
PubMed: 38655362
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28916 -
PloS One 2024Groove, or the pleasurable urge to move to music, offers unique insight into the relationship between emotion and action. The predictive coding of music model posits...
Groove, or the pleasurable urge to move to music, offers unique insight into the relationship between emotion and action. The predictive coding of music model posits that groove is linked to predictions of music formed over time, with stimuli of moderate complexity rated as most pleasurable and likely to engender movement. At the same time, listeners vary in the pleasure they derive from music listening: individuals with musical anhedonia report reduced pleasure during music listening despite no impairments in music perception and no general anhedonia. Little is known about musical anhedonics' subjective experience of groove. Here we examined the relationship between groove and music reward sensitivity. Participants (n = 287) heard drum-breaks that varied in perceived complexity, and rated each for pleasure and wanting to move. Musical anhedonics (n = 13) had significantly lower ratings compared to controls (n = 13) matched on music perception abilities and general anhedonia. However, both groups demonstrated the classic inverted-U relationship between ratings of pleasure & move and stimulus complexity, with ratings peaking for intermediately complex stimuli. Across our entire sample, pleasure ratings were most strongly related with music reward sensitivity for highly complex stimuli (i.e., there was an interaction between music reward sensitivity and stimulus complexity). Finally, the sensorimotor subscale of music reward was uniquely associated with move, but not pleasure, ratings above and beyond the five other dimensions of musical reward. Results highlight the multidimensional nature of reward sensitivity and suggest that pleasure and wanting to move are driven by overlapping but separable mechanisms.
Topics: Humans; Music; Anhedonia; Female; Male; Adult; Pleasure; Reward; Young Adult; Auditory Perception; Emotions; Adolescent; Acoustic Stimulation
PubMed: 38652721
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301478