| 1. |
- Iravani, Behzad, et al.
(författare)
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Relationship Between Odor Intensity Estimates and COVID-19 Prevalence Prediction in a Swedish Population
- 2020
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Ingår i: Chemical Senses. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0379-864X .- 1464-3553. ; 45:6, s. 449-456
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, countries have implemented various strategies to reduce and slow the spread of the disease in the general population. For countries that have implemented restrictions on its population in a stepwise manner, monitoring of COVID-19 prevalence is of importance to guide the decision on when to impose new, or when to abolish old, restrictions. We are here determining whether measures of odor intensity in a large sample can serve as one such measure. Online measures of how intense common household odors are perceived and symptoms of COVID-19 were collected from 2440 Swedes. Average odor intensity ratings were then compared to predicted COVID-19 population prevalence over time in the Swedish population and were found to closely track each other (r = -0.83). Moreover, we found that there was a large difference in rated intensity between individuals with and without COVID-19 symptoms and the number of symptoms was related to odor intensity ratings. Finally, we found that individuals progressing from reporting no symptoms to subsequently reporting COVID-19 symptoms demonstrated a large drop in olfactory performance. These data suggest that measures of odor intensity, if obtained in a large and representative sample, can be used as an indicator of COVID-19 disease in the general population. Importantly, this simple measure could easily be implemented in countries without widespread access to COVID-19 testing or implemented as a fast early response before widespread testing can be facilitated.
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| 2. |
- Lundström, Johan N., 1973-
(författare)
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Human Pheromones : Psychological and Neurological Modulation of a Putative Human Pheromone
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The notion that humans have specialized chemicals used for communication between conspecifics, so-called pheromones, has attracted much attention and discussion. This thesis demonstrates in four separate studies that a human endogenous steroidal compound that is abundant in male sweat, androstadienone, affects women in several ways that differ to that of common odors. Specifically, androstadienone was found in Study I to have unique psychophysical characteristics in that the sensitivity distribution of the odor is bimodal with a smaller subpopulation consisting of highly sensitive individuals. Trigeminal mediation of this bimodality was experimentally excluded. Moreover, Study II demonstrated that women’s cortical activation of androstadienone exposure was found to differ to that of common odorants in that androstadienone was processed faster than two perceptually similar control odors. It was further demonstrated that a non-detectable amount of androstadienone can reliably modulate both mood and physiology in women (Study III & IV); in particular mood referring to attention processes. Study IV showed that androstadienone-induced mood changes in heterosexual women were only evident when the experiment was administered by an experimenter of different sex. The combined results from these studies suggest that androstadienone serves as a human modulator pheromone that guides our behavior by inducing subtle changes in higher cognitive processes in relation to the ecological context at hand. A new definition of human pheromones is proposed and discussed in relation to the obtained results.
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