| 1. |
- Arshamian, Artin, et al.
(författare)
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Human sickness detection is not dependent on cultural experience
- 2021
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 288:1954
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Animals across phyla can detect early cues of infection in conspecifics, thereby reducing the risk of contamination. It is unknown, however, if humans can detect cues of sickness in people belonging to communities with whom they have limited or no experience. To test this, we presented Western faces photographed 2 h after the experimental induction of an acute immune response to one Western and five non-Western communities, including small-scale hunter-gatherer and large urban-dwelling communities. All communities could detect sick individuals. There were group differences in performance but Western participants, who observed faces from their own community, were not systematically better than all non-Western participants. At odds with the common belief that sickness detection of an out-group member should be biased to err on the side of caution, the majority of non-Western communities were unbiased. Our results show that subtle cues of a general immune response are recognized across cultures and may aid in detecting infectious threats.
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| 2. |
- Axelsson, John, et al.
(författare)
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Identification of acutely sick people and facial cues of sickness
- 2018
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 285:1870
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Detection and avoidance of sick individuals have been proposed as essential components in a behavioural defence against disease, limiting the risk of contamination. However, almost no knowledge exists on whether humans can detect sick individuals, and if so by what cues. Here, we demonstrate that untrained people can identify sick individuals above chance level by looking at facial photos taken 2 h after injection with a bacterial stimulus inducing an immune response (2.0 ng kg-1 lipopolysaccharide) or placebo, the global sensitivity index being d' = 0.405. Signal detection analysis (receiver operating characteristic curve area) showed an area of 0.62 (95% confidence intervals 0.60-0.63). Acutely sick people were rated by naive observers as having paler lips and skin, a more swollen face, droopier corners of the mouth, more hanging eyelids, redder eyes, and less glossy and patchy skin, as well as appearing more tired. Our findings suggest that facial cues associated with the skin, mouth and eyes can aid in the detection of acutely sick and potentially contagious people.
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| 3. |
- Balter, Leonie J. T., et al.
(författare)
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Lipopolysaccharide-induced changes in the kynurenine pathway and symptoms of sickness behavior in humans
- 2023
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Ingår i: Psychoneuroendocrinology. - 0306-4530 .- 1873-3360. ; 153
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Metabolites of the kynurenine pathway are hypothesized to be implicated in inflammation-associated depression, but there is a lack of experimental studies in humans assessing the kinetics of kynurenine metabolites in relation to experimentally-induced sickness. The aim of the present study was to assess changes in the kynurenine pathway and to explore its relation to symptoms of sickness behavior during an acute experimental immune challenge.This double-blind placebo-controlled randomized cross-over study included 22 healthy human participants (n = 21 both sessions, Mage = 23.4, SD = 3.6, nine women) who received an intravenous injection of 2.0 ng/kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and saline (placebo) on two different occasions in a randomized order. Blood samples (0 h, 1 h, 1.5 h, 2 h, 3 h, 4 h, 5 h, 7 h post-injection) were analyzed for kynurenine metabolites and inflammatory cytokines. The intensity of symptoms of sickness behavior was assessed using the 10-item Sickness Questionnaire at 0 h, 1.5 h, 3 h, 5 h, and 7 h post-injection.LPS induced significantly lower concentrations of plasma tryptophan (at 2 h, 4 h, 5 h, and 7 h post-injection), kynurenine (at 2 h, 3 h, 4 h, and 5 h post-injection), nicotinamide (at 4 h, 5 h, and 7 h post-injection), and higher levels for quinolinic acid at 5 h post-injection as compared to placebo. LPS did not affect kynurenic acid, 3-hydroxykynurenine, and picolinic acid. The development of the sickness symptoms was largely similar across items, with the highest levels around 1.5–3 h post-injection. Changes in plasma levels of kynurenine metabolites seem to coincide rather than precede or follow changes in subjective sickness. Exploratory analyses indicate that higher Sickness Questionnaire total scores at 1.5–5 h post-injection were correlated with lower kynurenic acid and nicotinamide levels.These results lend further support for LPS-induced changes in the kynurenine pathway, but may not, as interpreted from blood levels, causally link to LPS-induced acute symptoms of sickness behavior. Future research may consider a larger sample to further scrutinize the role of the kynurenine pathway in the sickness response.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Gordon, Amy R., et al.
(författare)
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Detection of Inflammation via Volatile Cues in Human Urine
- 2018
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Ingår i: Chemical Senses. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0379-864X .- 1464-3553. ; 43:9, s. 711-719
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Contagious disease is a major threat to survival, and the cost of relying on the immune system to defeat pathogens is high; therefore, behavioral avoidance of contagious individuals is arguably an adaptive strategy. Animal findings demonstrate the ability to detect and avoid sick individuals by the aid of olfactory cues, and a recent study indicated that human axillary odor also becomes more aversive as a function of immune activation. By injecting healthy human participants with lipopolysaccharide (0.6 ng/kg body weight) to experimentally induce inflammation, this study demonstrates that natural daily rhythms of urine odor-its perceived dimensions and volatile profile-are altered within hours of inflammation onset. Whereas healthy human urine decreases in averseness over the course of a single day, inflammation interrupts this process and results in an increased urine odor averseness and an altered volatile composition. These results support the notion that subtle and early cues of sickness may be detected and avoided, thereby complementing the immune system in its role of keeping us alive and healthy.
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| 6. |
- Gordon, Amy R., et al.
(författare)
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Human scent as a first-line defense against disease
- 2023
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 13:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Individuals may have a different body odor, when they are sick compared to healthy. In the non-human animal literature, olfactory cues have been shown to predict avoidance of sick individuals. We tested whether the mere experimental activation of the innate immune system in healthy human individuals can make an individuals' body odor be perceived as more aversive (intense, unpleasant, and disgusting). Following an endotoxin injection (lipopolysaccharide; 0.6 ng/kg) that creates a transient systemic inflammation, individuals smelled more unpleasant compared to a placebo group (saline injection). Behavioral and chemical analyses of the body odor samples suggest that the volatile components of samples from sick individuals changed qualitatively rather than quantitatively. Our findings support the hypothesis that odor cues of inflammation in axillary sweat are detectable just a few hours after experimental activation of the innate immune system. As such, they may trigger behavioral avoidance, hence constituting a first line of defense against pathogens of infected conspecifics.
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| 7. |
- Hansson, Lina S., et al.
(författare)
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Regulation of emotions during experimental endotoxemia : A pilot study
- 2021
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Ingår i: Brain, behavior, and immunity. - : Elsevier BV. - 0889-1591 .- 1090-2139. ; 93, s. 420-424
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Even though dysfunctional emotion regulation is prominent in depression and a link between depression and inflammation is well established, there is little knowledge about how inflammation affects the regulation of emotions. The aim of this pilot study was to explore the effect of experimentally induced inflammation on the cognitive reappraisal of emotions, and to assess domain specificity by comparing success in regulation of emotions towards two unpleasant stimuli classes (general negative stimuli and disgust stimuli). In a between-subject design, ten healthy participants were injected with an intravenous injection of lipopolysaccharide (2 ng/kg body weight) and eleven were injected with saline. Participants performed a cognitive reappraisal task, in which they had to down-regulate or up-regulate their emotions towards general negative stimuli and disgust stimuli, 5–6 h post-injection. Contrary to our hypotheses, participants injected with lipopolysaccharide reported greater success in down-regulating emotional responses towards unpleasant stimuli as compared to the saline group. In addition, both groups were poorer at down-regulating emotions towards disgust stimuli as compared to general negative stimuli. The current pilot study indicates that cognitive reappraisal of emotions is affected during experimental endotoxemia, and suggests that disgust stimuli might be difficult to reappraise.
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| 8. |
- Hansson, Lina S., 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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The walking sick : what predicts the detection of walking sick individuals?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Brain, behavior, and immunity. - : Elsevier. - 0889-1591 .- 1090-2139. ; 106, s. 36-36
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Methods: In two studies, raters watched video recordings and point-light displays (i.e. dots depicting the body joints) of walking individuals who were either experimentally sick (after injection with lipopolysaccharide at 2.0 ng/kg bw) or healthy (after a placebo injection). In study 1, 106 raters classified each walking individual as either sick or healthy. In study 2, 106 other raters graded health of the stimuli on a visual analogue scale. We assessed the predicting effect on sickness detection (study 1) and apparent health (study 2) of walking parameters (objective measures of stride length, width, time, as well as knee angle, arm angle, and head angle) and well-known sickness responses (Sickness Questionnaire score, pain intensity, body temperature, and interleukin-6 concentration).Results: In study 1, shorter steps was the only predictor of the detection of sick individuals from video recordings (β=0.712(0.257), p=0.02). In the point-light displays, slower, wider, stiffer and shorter steps, all predicted a better sickness detection (β=0.0003(0.0001)-0.415(0.126), p<0.05).In study 2, lipopolysaccharide-induced slower, shorter and stiffer steps (B=5.214(1.888)-6.385(2.083), p<0.01), as well as higher interleukin-6 concentrations (B=0.051(0.020), p=0.01), predicted worse health ratings of sick individuals in the video recordings. In the point-light displays, lipopolysaccharide-induced slower, shorter and stiffer steps, and more head tilting, predicted worse health ratings of sick individuals (B=4.185(1.892)-6.701(2.092), p<0.05).Conclusions: The results imply that specific changes in walking parameters may aid in sickness detection, possibly regulating approach-avoidance behaviors towards sick peers.
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| 9. |
- Henderson, Audrey J., et al.
(författare)
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Skin colour changes during experimentally-induced sickness
- 2017
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Ingår i: Brain, behavior, and immunity. - : Elsevier BV. - 0889-1591 .- 1090-2139. ; 60, s. 312-318
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Skin colour may be an important cue to detect sickness in humans but how skin colour changes with acute sickness is currently unknown. To determine possible colour changes, 22 healthy Caucasian participants were injected twice, once with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, at a dose of 2ng/kg body weight) and once with placebo (saline), in a randomised cross-over design study. Skin colour across 3 arm and 3 face locations was recorded spectrophotometrically over a period of 8h in terms of lightness (L(∗)), redness (a(∗)) and yellowness (b(∗)) in a manner that is consistent with human colour perception. In addition, carotenoid status was assessed as we predicted that a decrease it skin yellowness would reflect a drop in skin carotenoids. We found an early change in skin colouration 1-3h post LPS injection with facial skin becoming lighter and less red whilst arm skin become darker but also less red and less yellow. The LPS injection also caused a drop in plasma carotenoids from 3h onwards. However, the timing of the carotenoid changes was not consistent with the skin colour changes suggesting that other mechanisms, such as a reduction of blood perfusion, oxygenation or composition. This is the first experimental study characterising skin colour associated with acute illness, and shows that changes occur early in the development of the sickness response. Colour changes may serve as a cue to health, prompting actions from others in terms of care-giving or disease avoidance. Specific mechanisms underlying these colour changes require further investigation.
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| 10. |
- Juran, Stephanie Anja, et al.
(författare)
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Disgusting odors trigger the oral immune system
- 2023
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Ingår i: Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. - : Oxford University Press. - 2050-6201. ; 11:1, s. 8-17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent research has characterized the behavioral defense against disease. In particular the detection of sickness cues, the adaptive reactions (e.g. avoidance) to these cues and the mediating role of disgust have been the focus. A presumably important but less investigated part of a behavioral defense is the immune system response of the observer of sickness cues. Odors are intimately connected to disease and disgust, and research has shown how olfaction conveys sickness cues in both animals and humans. This study aims to test whether odorous sickness cues (i.e. disgusting odors) can trigger a preparatory immune response in humans. We show that subjective and objective disgust measures, as well as TNFα levels in saliva increased immediately after exposure to disgusting odors in a sample of 36 individuals. Altogether, these results suggest a collaboration between behavioral mechanisms of pathogen avoidance in olfaction, mediated by the emotion of disgust, and mechanisms of pathogen elimination facilitated by inflammatory mediators.Disgusting stimuli are associated with an increased risk of infection. We here test whether disgusting odors, can trigger an immune response in the oral cavity. The results indicate an increase level of TNFα in the saliva. This supports that disease cues can trigger a preparatory response in the oral cavity.
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