The current study aimed to investigate the impact of oxytocin on emotion recognition, trust, body image, affect, and anxiety and whether eating disorder (ED) symptoms moderated any of these ...relationships.
Participants (n = 149) were female university students, who were randomly allocated to receive in a double-blind nature, a single dose of oxytocin intranasal spray (n = 76) or a placebo (saline) intranasal spray (n = 73). Participants were asked to complete an experimental measure of emotion recognition and an investor task aimed to assess trust.
The oxytocin group exhibited better overall performance on the emotion recognition task (especially with recognising positive emotions), and a decline in state positive affect than the control group at post-intervention. However, these effects were not moderated by ED symptom severity, nor were effects found for state anxiety, negative affect, body image and recognising negative emotions in the emotion recognition task.
The current findings contribute to the growing literature on oxytocin, emotion recognition and positive affect and suggest that ED pathology does not moderate these relationships. Future research would benefit from examining the efficacy of an oxytocin intervention using a within-subjects, cross-over design, in those with sub-clinical and clinical EDs, as well as healthy controls.
Background Remote research methods and interventions for mental health disorders have become increasingly important, particularly for conditions like eating disorders (EDs). Embodiment illusions, ...which induce feelings of ownership over another person?s body or body parts, offer valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying self-perception issues in EDs and potential interventions. However, existing research using these illusions has been limited to face-to-face settings. We illustrate a novel online protocol to induce the enfacement illusion (embodiment illusion principles applied to one's face) in an ED-based sample. Methods Participants complete a 2-hr virtual session with a researcher. First, baseline trait/state ED psychopathology measures and a self-face recognition task occur. Second, participants experience two testing blocks of the enfacement illusion involving synchronously and asynchronously mimicking a pre-recorded actor's facial expressions. After each block, subjective and objective enfacement illusion measures occur alongside state ED psychopathology reassessment. Discussion Successfully inducing enfacement illusions online could provide an affordable, accessible virtual approach to further elucidate the mechanistic role of self-perception disturbances across psychopathologies such as EDs. Moreover, this protocol may represent an innovative, remotely-delivered intervention strategy, as 'enfacement' over another face could update negative self-representations in a cost-effective, scalable manner. Keywords: Self-perception, Facial perception, Enfacement illusion, Embodiment illusion, Mental health, Eating disorder, Tactile-reduced, Online
Night eating syndrome (NES) is currently classified as an Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED) under the Diagnostic Statistical Manual-5 (DSM-5). This systematic review aims to ...consolidate the studies that describe the sociodemographic, clinical and psychological features of NES in a population of patients with eating disorders (ED), obesity, or those undergoing bariatric surgery, and were published after the publication of the DSM-5. A further aim was to compare, where possible, NES with BED on the aforementioned variables. Lastly, we aimed to appraise the quality of the studies being included in the review. We conducted a systematic search on three databases (MEDLINE, PubMed and Embase) which resulted in the selection of 22 studies for the review. We included the articles that studied patients with NES and their sociodemographic, clinical and psychological features in a clinical (i.e., ED, obese or bariatric surgery) population, through a quantitative study design. Articles were excluded if the NES patients included in the study had a comorbid psychological disorder, and/or the sample was collected from a university/non-clinical population, and/or the study design was qualitative, and/or NES features were compared with any other disorder, except BED. Our study found that no conclusions about the link between any sociodemographic feature (such as, age, gender, income, etc.) and an NES diagnosis could be made. Further, NES patients presented with elevated ED pathology (including emotional eating and loss of control eating) and higher occurrence of depressive symptoms than controls. Contrary to the literature suggesting that NES and Binge Eating Disorder (BED; an ED subtype which is also comorbid with obesity) patients often report overlapping features, questioning the validity of NES as an ED diagnosis, we found that BED can be differentiated from NES by the higher occurrence of emotional eating, body related concerns and abnormal eating episodes. The review also suggested an overlap between NES and Sleep-Related Eating Disorder. We recommend that it is essential to study NES as an independent disorder to further develop its diagnostic criteria and treatment options, thereby, increasing the quality of life of the patients suffering from this syndrome.
Enniatins are common contaminants of food and feed and belong to the group of the "emerging" mycotoxins, which are produced by various Fusarium species. Although a wide range of toxic effects, like ...antibacterial, antifungal, insecticidal and cytotoxic properties, have been described in vitro, so far, no cases of mycotoxicosis connected to enniatins in vivo are reported. Among this group of mycotoxins, enniatin B and enniatin B1 are the most prevalent compounds and therefore are present in the human diet. Enniatins can reach systemic circulation, thus, the investigation of possible neurotoxic effects is of importance. Different cerebral cells were used to address effects on cell death having an impact on the blood-brain barrier. The influence of enniatin B and enniatin B1 on cellular viability was examined via Cell Counting kit-8 assay (CCK-8) in three different cell types of the blood-brain barrier: porcine brain capillary endothelial cells (PBCEC), human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC) and human astrocytoma cells (CCF-STTG1). CCF-STTG1 cells were more sensitive to enniatin B (IC50 = 8.9 μM) and enniatin B1 (IC50 = 4.4 μM) than both endothelial cell types. In CCF-STTG1 cells, caspase-3 activation and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release were evaluated. Both compounds did not induce any LDH release and only enniatin B increased caspase-3 activity as a marker for apoptosis. The transport kinetics of enniatin B and enniatin B1 across the blood-brain barrier in vitro were evaluated using PBCEC, cultivated on Transwell® filter inserts. Analysis of the apical and the basolateral compartment by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed high influx rates for enniatin B and enniatin B1. Thus, both compounds can reach the brain parenchyma where neurotoxic effects cannot be ruled out.
Social media content on Western platforms promoting thinness, or thinspiration, has been found to negatively affect body image perception of users. Less is known about non-Western social media use ...and its effects on body image concerns. Chinese TikTok, known as Douyin, is a popular short video platform with 600 million daily active users. Recent trends on Douyin encourage users to demonstrate thinness through participation in 'body challenges'. This paper argues that such content is comparable to thinspiration, however, to date hardly any research has been undertaken on these challenges. Thus, this pilot study aimed to analyse the content of three viral challenges and investigate their impact on Douyin users.
Thirty most viewed videos were collected for three challenges (N = 90): the Coin challenge, the A4 Waist challenge, and the Spider leg challenge. Videos were coded for variables relating to thin idealisation, including thin praise, sexualisation and objectification, and analysed through content analytic methods. Video comments (N ≈ 5500) were analysed through thematic analysis, and main themes were identified.
Preliminary findings showed that participants who objectified their bodies to a greater extent expressed more negative body image concerns. In addition, comments on the videos had themes of thin praise, self-comparison, and promotion of dieting behaviours. In particular, videos of the A4 Waist challenge were found to incite more negative self-comparison in viewers.
Preliminary findings suggest all three challenges promote the thin ideal and encourage body image concerns. Further research about the broader impact of body challenges is needed.
Abstract Although the influence of stable, trait-like factors (such as trait body dissatisfaction and appearance internalization) on instances of appearance comparison has been well documented, the ...additive and interactive influence of contextual factors (such as one’s current body satisfaction) on comparison behaviors is unknown. Therefore, the present study tested a Person × Situation model in which both state and trait body image variables interacted to predict engagement in various forms of comparison (upward, downward, and lateral). Participants included 161 women who completed a baseline measure of trait body dissatisfaction and internalization, and then completed, via an iPhone app, an ecological momentary assessment phase in which they reported momentary experiences of mood and comparison behaviors at up to 6 random times per day for 7 days. Multilevel analyses revealed that upward comparisons (comparisons against more attractive people) were more likely for individuals with heightened trait and/or state negative body image, but these predictive effects of state and trait on appearance comparisons appear largely independent of each other. Furthermore, neither state nor trait body image variables were related to the other forms of comparison, and time lag at the state-level between predictor and outcome did not seem to influence the strength of these associations. Present findings are consistent with the notion that how an individual feels in the moment about their appearance may influence engagement in deleterious appearance behaviors. However, further testing is needed to confirm these causal hypotheses.
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