12 results
The call of the final frontier?
- Catherine A. Salmon, Rebecca L. Burch
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- Journal:
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences / Volume 45 / 2022
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 18 November 2022, e295
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The target article is focused on locating the popularity of imaginary worlds in our adaptations for exploration. This commentary touches on developmental influences, vicarious enjoyment, the challenging of societal mores, plot, and whether men and women are drawn to the same features in the same ways.
17 - Individual Differences in Sexual Psychology
- from Part II - Middle-Level Theories
- Edited by Todd K. Shackelford, Oakland University, Michigan
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology
- Published online:
- 30 June 2022
- Print publication:
- 21 July 2022, pp 390-413
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Summary
Much of evolutionary psychology has focused on species-typical behavior or sex differences. However, recent attention has turned to considering the role of individual differences in shaping human behavior, in particular in the realm of sexual strategies. While some research still focused broadly on sex differences, there is a growing body of work that examines within-sex differences in sexual strategies. This work includes genetic and environmental influences on individual differences factors including flexible responses to ecological contingencies such as sex ratio and mortality rates. These within-sex individual differences can be divided into directly selected individual differences in mating strategies (genetically influenced biases toward developing longer-term or shorter-term mating relationships), indirectly selected individual differences in mating strategies (variations in mating strategy that might be influenced developmentally by individual differences in strategically relevant traits), indirectly selected individual differences in mating strategies that are influenced developmentally by external environmental contingencies (which could include environmental unpredictability or resource scarcity), and combinations of all three acting concurrently in one individual. This chapter will examine all three options and some of the evidence collected to date on their role.
16 - Shifts in Partner Attractiveness
- from Part III - Postcopulatory Adaptations
- Edited by Todd K. Shackelford, Oakland University, Michigan
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology
- Published online:
- 30 June 2022
- Print publication:
- 21 July 2022, pp 363-390
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Summary
Researchers have spent decades investigating factors in attraction; biological variables, cultural norms, and social pressures have all had their time in the spotlight. Humans are complicated animals and each of these realms have shown measurable effects. However, evolutionary approaches provide a unifying theory that subsumes and explains each of these factors and how they interact to create intricate yet predictable patterns in human mating behavior. In this chapter, we give a brief summary of major factors influencing attractiveness as perceived by men, including biological factors such as age and ovulatory status but also social factors such as exposure to highly attractive, or simply novel, women. Understanding how attractiveness can vary over time and within relationships can be useful, not only to research but also in applied clinical fields such as couples’ and marital therapy.
8 - Parent–Offspring Conflict
- from Part II - Middle-Level Theories
- Edited by Todd K. Shackelford, Oakland University, Michigan
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology
- Published online:
- 30 June 2022
- Print publication:
- 21 July 2022, pp 160-181
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Summary
At first glance, the relationship between parent and offspring seems to begin in perfect harmony. In particular, the image of human parents’ devotion to their infant is one that has been depicted in art for thousands of years. And yet it often seems a sharp contrast to the modern Western image of the adolescent–parent relationship, full of strife and angst. It’s also a contrast to the relatively abrupt end of parent–child relationships seen in many animal species as offspring disperse. Human offspring have a much longer period of juvenile dependence and sometimes don’t disperse very far. But is there a good reason to expect perfect harmony or strife and angst? Parent–offspring conflict theory has informed a wide range of research in nonhuman animals as well as in humans. Both research areas have focused on early maternal–infant conflict, such as prenatal conflict and weaning conflict; however, recent research in humans (as well as research in animals on cooperative breeders) has also highlighted conflict over mate choice. In this chapter we examine these sources of conflict.
10 - Female Provision of Oral Sex
- from Part II - Copulatory Adaptations
- Edited by Todd K. Shackelford, Oakland University, Michigan
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology
- Published online:
- 30 June 2022
- Print publication:
- 21 July 2022, pp 267-289
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Summary
Female engagement in oral sex, both receiving and performing, is a sexual behavior found throughout the animal kingdom, yet it remains an underdeveloped research area. Regardless, proximate and ultimate causes can explain engagement in oral sex. For instance, there have been various sociocultural impacts that have led to fluctuations in the performance frequency of oral sex over human history. In this chapter, we highlight the results of research on oral sex for women. First, cross-cultural and historical practices regarding oral sex are presented to explain various fluctuations in the behavior. We also examine cross-species examples of oral sex. Second, we present contemporary research on oral sex and aspects that impact its frequency, such as peer pressure, age, and myths regarding the behavior. Third, proximate mechanisms (sexual pleasure and partner satisfaction) for engagement in oral sex are discussed. Fourth, we describe six evolutionary perspectives on oral sex and introduce one additional theory—a sexual communal perspective that integrates other models. Lastly, we note limitations and future directions for studying women's engagement in oral sex.
The importance of ecological validity, ultimate causation, and natural categories
- Catherine A. Salmon, Jessica A. Hehman
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- Journal:
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences / Volume 45 / 2022
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 13 May 2022, e92
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The target article raises important questions about the applicability of experimental social psychology research on topics with policy implications. This commentary focuses on the importance of attending to a variety of factors to improve ecological validity as well as considering the ultimate factors shaping behavior and the role of natural categories in the stability of stereotypes and their influence.
45 - The Internet Is for Porn
- from Part X - Evolution and the Media
- Edited by Lance Workman, University of South Wales, Will Reader, Sheffield Hallam University, Jerome H. Barkow, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior
- Published online:
- 02 March 2020
- Print publication:
- 19 March 2020, pp 548-557
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Summary
When people talk about sex in today’s digital environment, some of the most prominent topics are the prevalence, ease of accessibility, and variety of online pornography. Our focus in the current chapter is on the identity of online pornography consumers and the actual content that is being consumed. We specifically explore sex differences in online pornography consumption using the lens of evolutionary psychology. This perspective allows us to examine how sex-specific challenges over human evolutionary history have shaped general tendencies in mate preferences. Here, we discuss pornography consumption not only with regards to common sexual interests within and across men and women, but also with regards to individual differences in terms of the diversity of explicit images, video, and literature that is available online.
The Evocative Nature of Kin Terminology in Political Rhetoric
- Catherine A. Salmon
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- Journal:
- Politics and the Life Sciences / Volume 17 / Issue 1 / March 1998
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 17 May 2016, pp. 51-57
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Kin terms such as “brothers,” “sisters,” and “motherland” are frequently used in both political and patriotic speech. Johnson (1986, 1987) has argued that this use of kin terms in patriotic or rhetorical speech can be predicted on the basis of evolutionary psychology. He has suggested that the human inclination toward nepotistic behavior can be called forth by the successful manipulation of kin terminology. In this study, two hypotheses were examined concerning the evocativeness of kin terminology in political speech and the influence of birth order on the effectiveness of such terminology. The first hypothesis was that kin terms would be more effective than more distant relationship terms (like “friend”) in evoking a positive response. Kin terms elevated agreement with the views expressed in the speech that the subjects heard. The second hypothesis, that middleborns would be less likely to respond to such kin term usage than first or lastborns, was based on previous work on birth order and family relations (Salmon and Daly, in press). And in fact, middleborns were less likely to be influenced by the use of kin terms than first or lastborns in this study.
Contributors
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- By Mitchell Aboulafia, Frederick Adams, Marilyn McCord Adams, Robert M. Adams, Laird Addis, James W. Allard, David Allison, William P. Alston, Karl Ameriks, C. Anthony Anderson, David Leech Anderson, Lanier Anderson, Roger Ariew, David Armstrong, Denis G. Arnold, E. J. Ashworth, Margaret Atherton, Robin Attfield, Bruce Aune, Edward Wilson Averill, Jody Azzouni, Kent Bach, Andrew Bailey, Lynne Rudder Baker, Thomas R. Baldwin, Jon Barwise, George Bealer, William Bechtel, Lawrence C. Becker, Mark A. Bedau, Ernst Behler, José A. Benardete, Ermanno Bencivenga, Jan Berg, Michael Bergmann, Robert L. Bernasconi, Sven Bernecker, Bernard Berofsky, Rod Bertolet, Charles J. Beyer, Christian Beyer, Joseph Bien, Joseph Bien, Peg Birmingham, Ivan Boh, James Bohman, Daniel Bonevac, Laurence BonJour, William J. Bouwsma, Raymond D. Bradley, Myles Brand, Richard B. Brandt, Michael E. Bratman, Stephen E. Braude, Daniel Breazeale, Angela Breitenbach, Jason Bridges, David O. Brink, Gordon G. Brittan, Justin Broackes, Dan W. Brock, Aaron Bronfman, Jeffrey E. Brower, Bartosz Brozek, Anthony Brueckner, Jeffrey Bub, Lara Buchak, Otavio Bueno, Ann E. Bumpus, Robert W. Burch, John Burgess, Arthur W. Burks, Panayot Butchvarov, Robert E. Butts, Marina Bykova, Patrick Byrne, David Carr, Noël Carroll, Edward S. Casey, Victor Caston, Victor Caston, Albert Casullo, Robert L. Causey, Alan K. L. Chan, Ruth Chang, Deen K. Chatterjee, Andrew Chignell, Roderick M. Chisholm, Kelly J. Clark, E. J. Coffman, Robin Collins, Brian P. Copenhaver, John Corcoran, John Cottingham, Roger Crisp, Frederick J. Crosson, Antonio S. Cua, Phillip D. Cummins, Martin Curd, Adam Cureton, Andrew Cutrofello, Stephen Darwall, Paul Sheldon Davies, Wayne A. Davis, Timothy Joseph Day, Claudio de Almeida, Mario De Caro, Mario De Caro, John Deigh, C. F. Delaney, Daniel C. Dennett, Michael R. DePaul, Michael Detlefsen, Daniel Trent Devereux, Philip E. Devine, John M. Dillon, Martin C. Dillon, Robert DiSalle, Mary Domski, Alan Donagan, Paul Draper, Fred Dretske, Mircea Dumitru, Wilhelm Dupré, Gerald Dworkin, John Earman, Ellery Eells, Catherine Z. Elgin, Berent Enç, Ronald P. Endicott, Edward Erwin, John Etchemendy, C. Stephen Evans, Susan L. Feagin, Solomon Feferman, Richard Feldman, Arthur Fine, Maurice A. Finocchiaro, William FitzPatrick, Richard E. Flathman, Gvozden Flego, Richard Foley, Graeme Forbes, Rainer Forst, Malcolm R. Forster, Daniel Fouke, Patrick Francken, Samuel Freeman, Elizabeth Fricker, Miranda Fricker, Michael Friedman, Michael Fuerstein, Richard A. Fumerton, Alan Gabbey, Pieranna Garavaso, Daniel Garber, Jorge L. A. Garcia, Robert K. Garcia, Don Garrett, Philip Gasper, Gerald Gaus, Berys Gaut, Bernard Gert, Roger F. Gibson, Cody Gilmore, Carl Ginet, Alan H. Goldman, Alvin I. Goldman, Alfonso Gömez-Lobo, Lenn E. Goodman, Robert M. Gordon, Stefan Gosepath, Jorge J. E. Gracia, Daniel W. Graham, George A. Graham, Peter J. Graham, Richard E. Grandy, I. Grattan-Guinness, John Greco, Philip T. Grier, Nicholas Griffin, Nicholas Griffin, David A. Griffiths, Paul J. Griffiths, Stephen R. Grimm, Charles L. Griswold, Charles B. Guignon, Pete A. Y. Gunter, Dimitri Gutas, Gary Gutting, Paul Guyer, Kwame Gyekye, Oscar A. Haac, Raul Hakli, Raul Hakli, Michael Hallett, Edward C. Halper, Jean Hampton, R. James Hankinson, K. R. Hanley, Russell Hardin, Robert M. Harnish, William Harper, David Harrah, Kevin Hart, Ali Hasan, William Hasker, John Haugeland, Roger Hausheer, William Heald, Peter Heath, Richard Heck, John F. Heil, Vincent F. Hendricks, Stephen Hetherington, Francis Heylighen, Kathleen Marie Higgins, Risto Hilpinen, Harold T. Hodes, Joshua Hoffman, Alan Holland, Robert L. Holmes, Richard Holton, Brad W. Hooker, Terence E. Horgan, Tamara Horowitz, Paul Horwich, Vittorio Hösle, Paul Hoβfeld, Daniel Howard-Snyder, Frances Howard-Snyder, Anne Hudson, Deal W. Hudson, Carl A. Huffman, David L. Hull, Patricia Huntington, Thomas Hurka, Paul Hurley, Rosalind Hursthouse, Guillermo Hurtado, Ronald E. Hustwit, Sarah Hutton, Jonathan Jenkins Ichikawa, Harry A. Ide, David Ingram, Philip J. Ivanhoe, Alfred L. Ivry, Frank Jackson, Dale Jacquette, Joseph Jedwab, Richard Jeffrey, David Alan Johnson, Edward Johnson, Mark D. Jordan, Richard Joyce, Hwa Yol Jung, Robert Hillary Kane, Tomis Kapitan, Jacquelyn Ann K. Kegley, James A. Keller, Ralph Kennedy, Sergei Khoruzhii, Jaegwon Kim, Yersu Kim, Nathan L. King, Patricia Kitcher, Peter D. Klein, E. D. Klemke, Virginia Klenk, George L. Kline, Christian Klotz, Simo Knuuttila, Joseph J. Kockelmans, Konstantin Kolenda, Sebastian Tomasz Kołodziejczyk, Isaac Kramnick, Richard Kraut, Fred Kroon, Manfred Kuehn, Steven T. Kuhn, Henry E. Kyburg, John Lachs, Jennifer Lackey, Stephen E. Lahey, Andrea Lavazza, Thomas H. Leahey, Joo Heung Lee, Keith Lehrer, Dorothy Leland, Noah M. Lemos, Ernest LePore, Sarah-Jane Leslie, Isaac Levi, Andrew Levine, Alan E. Lewis, Daniel E. Little, Shu-hsien Liu, Shu-hsien Liu, Alan K. L. Chan, Brian Loar, Lawrence B. Lombard, John Longeway, Dominic McIver Lopes, Michael J. Loux, E. J. Lowe, Steven Luper, Eugene C. Luschei, William G. Lycan, David Lyons, David Macarthur, Danielle Macbeth, Scott MacDonald, Jacob L. Mackey, Louis H. Mackey, Penelope Mackie, Edward H. Madden, Penelope Maddy, G. B. Madison, Bernd Magnus, Pekka Mäkelä, Rudolf A. Makkreel, David Manley, William E. Mann (W.E.M.), Vladimir Marchenkov, Peter Markie, Jean-Pierre Marquis, Ausonio Marras, Mike W. Martin, A. P. Martinich, William L. McBride, David McCabe, Storrs McCall, Hugh J. McCann, Robert N. McCauley, John J. McDermott, Sarah McGrath, Ralph McInerny, Daniel J. McKaughan, Thomas McKay, Michael McKinsey, Brian P. McLaughlin, Ernan McMullin, Anthonie Meijers, Jack W. Meiland, William Jason Melanson, Alfred R. Mele, Joseph R. Mendola, Christopher Menzel, Michael J. Meyer, Christian B. Miller, David W. Miller, Peter Millican, Robert N. Minor, Phillip Mitsis, James A. Montmarquet, Michael S. Moore, Tim Moore, Benjamin Morison, Donald R. Morrison, Stephen J. Morse, Paul K. Moser, Alexander P. D. Mourelatos, Ian Mueller, James Bernard Murphy, Mark C. Murphy, Steven Nadler, Jan Narveson, Alan Nelson, Jerome Neu, Samuel Newlands, Kai Nielsen, Ilkka Niiniluoto, Carlos G. Noreña, Calvin G. Normore, David Fate Norton, Nikolaj Nottelmann, Donald Nute, David S. Oderberg, Steve Odin, Michael O’Rourke, Willard G. Oxtoby, Heinz Paetzold, George S. Pappas, Anthony J. Parel, Lydia Patton, R. P. Peerenboom, Francis Jeffry Pelletier, Adriaan T. Peperzak, Derk Pereboom, Jaroslav Peregrin, Glen Pettigrove, Philip Pettit, Edmund L. Pincoffs, Andrew Pinsent, Robert B. Pippin, Alvin Plantinga, Louis P. Pojman, Richard H. Popkin, John F. Post, Carl J. Posy, William J. Prior, Richard Purtill, Michael Quante, Philip L. Quinn, Philip L. Quinn, Elizabeth S. Radcliffe, Diana Raffman, Gerard Raulet, Stephen L. Read, Andrews Reath, Andrew Reisner, Nicholas Rescher, Henry S. Richardson, Robert C. Richardson, Thomas Ricketts, Wayne D. Riggs, Mark Roberts, Robert C. Roberts, Luke Robinson, Alexander Rosenberg, Gary Rosenkranz, Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, Adina L. Roskies, William L. Rowe, T. M. Rudavsky, Michael Ruse, Bruce Russell, Lilly-Marlene Russow, Dan Ryder, R. M. Sainsbury, Joseph Salerno, Nathan Salmon, Wesley C. Salmon, Constantine Sandis, David H. Sanford, Marco Santambrogio, David Sapire, Ruth A. Saunders, Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, Charles Sayward, James P. Scanlan, Richard Schacht, Tamar Schapiro, Frederick F. Schmitt, Jerome B. Schneewind, Calvin O. Schrag, Alan D. Schrift, George F. Schumm, Jean-Loup Seban, David N. Sedley, Kenneth Seeskin, Krister Segerberg, Charlene Haddock Seigfried, Dennis M. Senchuk, James F. Sennett, William Lad Sessions, Stewart Shapiro, Tommie Shelby, Donald W. Sherburne, Christopher Shields, Roger A. Shiner, Sydney Shoemaker, Robert K. Shope, Kwong-loi Shun, Wilfried Sieg, A. John Simmons, Robert L. Simon, Marcus G. Singer, Georgette Sinkler, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Matti T. Sintonen, Lawrence Sklar, Brian Skyrms, Robert C. Sleigh, Michael Anthony Slote, Hans Sluga, Barry Smith, Michael Smith, Robin Smith, Robert Sokolowski, Robert C. Solomon, Marta Soniewicka, Philip Soper, Ernest Sosa, Nicholas Southwood, Paul Vincent Spade, T. L. S. Sprigge, Eric O. Springsted, George J. Stack, Rebecca Stangl, Jason Stanley, Florian Steinberger, Sören Stenlund, Christopher Stephens, James P. Sterba, Josef Stern, Matthias Steup, M. A. Stewart, Leopold Stubenberg, Edith Dudley Sulla, Frederick Suppe, Jere Paul Surber, David George Sussman, Sigrún Svavarsdóttir, Zeno G. Swijtink, Richard Swinburne, Charles C. Taliaferro, Robert B. Talisse, John Tasioulas, Paul Teller, Larry S. Temkin, Mark Textor, H. S. Thayer, Peter Thielke, Alan Thomas, Amie L. Thomasson, Katherine Thomson-Jones, Joshua C. Thurow, Vzalerie Tiberius, Terrence N. Tice, Paul Tidman, Mark C. Timmons, William Tolhurst, James E. Tomberlin, Rosemarie Tong, Lawrence Torcello, Kelly Trogdon, J. D. Trout, Robert E. Tully, Raimo Tuomela, John Turri, Martin M. Tweedale, Thomas Uebel, Jennifer Uleman, James Van Cleve, Harry van der Linden, Peter van Inwagen, Bryan W. Van Norden, René van Woudenberg, Donald Phillip Verene, Samantha Vice, Thomas Vinci, Donald Wayne Viney, Barbara Von Eckardt, Peter B. M. Vranas, Steven J. Wagner, William J. Wainwright, Paul E. Walker, Robert E. Wall, Craig Walton, Douglas Walton, Eric Watkins, Richard A. Watson, Michael V. Wedin, Rudolph H. Weingartner, Paul Weirich, Paul J. Weithman, Carl Wellman, Howard Wettstein, Samuel C. Wheeler, Stephen A. White, Jennifer Whiting, Edward R. Wierenga, Michael Williams, Fred Wilson, W. Kent Wilson, Kenneth P. Winkler, John F. Wippel, Jan Woleński, Allan B. Wolter, Nicholas P. Wolterstorff, Rega Wood, W. Jay Wood, Paul Woodruff, Alison Wylie, Gideon Yaffe, Takashi Yagisawa, Yutaka Yamamoto, Keith E. Yandell, Xiaomei Yang, Dean Zimmerman, Günter Zoller, Catherine Zuckert, Michael Zuckert, Jack A. Zupko (J.A.Z.)
- Edited by Robert Audi, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
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- Book:
- The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
- Published online:
- 05 August 2015
- Print publication:
- 27 April 2015, pp ix-xxx
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An ethnographic action research study to investigate the experiences of Bindjareb women participating in the cooking and nutrition component of an Aboriginal health promotion programme in regional Western Australia
- Caroline Nilson, Karrie-Anne Kearing-Salmon, Paul Morrison, Catherine Fetherston
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- Journal:
- Public Health Nutrition / Volume 18 / Issue 18 / December 2015
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 22 April 2015, pp. 3394-3405
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Objective
To investigate the experiences of women participating in a cooking and nutrition component of a health promotion research initiative in an Australian Aboriginal regional community.
DesignWeekly facilitated cooking and nutrition classes were conducted during school terms over 12 months. An ethnographic action research study was conducted for the programme duration with data gathered by participant and direct observation, four yarning groups and six individual yarning sessions. The aim was to determine the ways the cooking and nutrition component facilitated lifestyle change, enabled engagement, encouraged community ownership and influenced community action.
SettingRegional Bindjareb community in the Nyungar nation of Western Australia.
SubjectsA sample of seventeen Aboriginal women aged between 18 and 60 years from the two kinships in two towns in one shire took part in the study. The recruitment and consent process was managed by community Elders and leaders.
ResultsMajor themes emerged highlighting the development of participants and their recognition of the need for change: the impact of history on current nutritional health of Indigenous Australians; acknowledging shame; challenges of change around nutrition and healthy eating; the undermining effect of mistrust and limited resources; the importance of community control when developing health promotion programmes; finding life purpose through learning; and the need for planning and partnerships to achieve community determination.
ConclusionsSuggested principles for developing cooking and nutrition interventions are: consideration of community needs; understanding the impact of historical factors on health; understanding family and community tensions; and the engagement of long-term partnerships to develop community determination.
Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia and Bipolar Spectrum Disorders: Review of the Evidence of a Relationship and Treatment Implications
- Jean-Michel Dorey, Olivier Beauchet, Catherine Thomas Anterion, Isabelle Rouch, Pierre Krolak-Salmon, Jacques Gaucher, Régis Gonthier, Hagop S. Akiskal
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- Journal:
- CNS Spectrums / Volume 13 / Issue 9 / September 2008
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 07 November 2014, pp. 796-803
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Dementia is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by cognitive impairment and behavioral disturbances. The behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are common, contributing to caregiver burden and premature institutionalization. Management of BPSD is complex and often needs recourse to psychotropic drugs. Though widely prescribed, there is a lack of consensus concerning their use, and serious side effects are frequent. This is particularly the case with antidepressant treatment based on the assumption that BPSD is depressive in nature. A better understanding of BPSD etiology could lead to better management strategies. We submit that some BPSD could be the consequence of both dementia and an undiagnosed comorbid bipolar spectrum disorder, or a pre-existing bipolar diathesis pathoplastically altering the clinical expression of dementia. The existence of such a relationship is based on clinical observation, as far as the high frequency of bipolar spectrum disorders in the general population, with a prevalence estimated to be between 5.4% and 8.3%, and the psychopathological similarities between BPSD and mood disorder episodes in bipolar illness. We will review the concept of the bipolar spectrum and explain BPSD before proposing clinical pointers of a possible bipolar spectrum contaminating the phenomenology of dementia, which could lead to the targeted prescription of mood-stabilizing agents in lieu of antidepressant monotherapy. These considerations are of heuristic interest in reconceptualizing the origin of the behavioral manifestations of dementia, with important implications for geriatric practice.
Polyamine and intestinal properties in adult rats
- Patricia Deloyer, Guy Dandrifosse, Catherine Bartholomeus, Nadine Romain, Monique Klimek, JosÉ Salmon, Paul Gérard, Guy Goessens, Hendrik Eyssen
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- Journal:
- British Journal of Nutrition / Volume 76 / Issue 4 / October 1996
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 09 March 2007, pp. 627-637
- Print publication:
- October 1996
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We questioned whether polyamines coming from the diet or produced by intestinal microflora or by intracellular metabolism influence intestinal functions. Therefore, we compared pathogen-free rats and germ-free rats receiving a diet with low polyamine content and either treated or not treated with difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) and/or methylglyoxal bis (guanylhydrazone) (MGBG). Wet weight, protein content, DNA content, sucrase (EC3.2.1.48), maltase (EC 3.2.1.20) and lactase (EC 3.2.1.23) specific activities, amounts of putrescine, spennidine and spemine were measured in the mucosa of the proximal and distal intestine. Body weight was also determined. Rats without microflora had a higher specific activity of maltase and higher amounts of spermidine and spermine but lower lactase specific activity than pathogen-free animals; the low-polyamine diet given to gem-free rats had little effect on the functional variables measured (decrease of maltase and lactase specific activities) and did not modify the amounts of polyamines. DFMO and/or MGBG administered to germ-free rats receiving a low-polyamine diet induced modifications of most of the variables studied. Body weight and wet weight of proximal and distal intestine decreased, disaccharidase specific activities decreased, and amounts of polyamines changed according to the inhibitor used. Thus, our results showed that the deprivation of polyamine supply from microflora or from the diet failed, under our experimental conditions, to affect the intestinal properties analysed but exogenous and endogenous polyamine restriction altered general properties of the organism as well as intestinal functions.