Fear inoculation among snake experts

Abstract Background Fear acquisition of certain stimuli, such as snakes, is thought to be rapid, resistant to extinction, and easily transferable onto other similar objects. It has been hypothesized that due to increased survival chances, preparedness to instantly acquire fear towards evolutionary threats has been hardwired into neural pathways of the primate brain. Here, we compare participants’ fear of snakes according to experience; from those who often deal with snakes and even suffer snakebites to those unfamiliar with snakes. Methods The Snake Questionnaire-12 (SNAQ-12) and Specific Phobia Questionnaire (SPQ) were administered to three groups of participants with a different level of experience with snakes and snakebites: 1) snake experts, 2) firefighters, and 3) college students. Results This study shows that individuals more experienced with snakes demonstrate lower fear. Moreover, participants who have suffered a snakebite (either venomous or not) score lower on fear of snakes (SNAQ-12), but not of all other potentially phobic stimuli (SPQ). Conclusions Our results suggest that a harmless benign exposure might immunize people to highly biologically prepared fears of evolutionary threats, such as snakes

On the nature of fear and anxiety triggered by COVID-19

Emergencies that occur during natural disasters, such as avalanches, earthquakes, and floods, tend to be sudden, unexpected, and ephemeral and recruit defensive responses, similar to the ones recruited when faced with dangerous animals. Defensive behaviors are triggered by activity in survival circuits that detects imminent threats and fear is the conscious emotion of that follows immediately. But this particular threat (COVID-19) is useable and mysterious, triggering anxieties much more than fear. We conducted a literature search on May 1, 2020 in Google Scholar, PsychInfo, and PubMed with search terms related to COVID-19 fears and found 28 relevant articles. We categorized the papers into six groups based on the content and implications: fear of the unknown, social isolation, hypochondriasis, disgust, information-driven fears, and compliance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Anxiety and public responses to covid-19 : early data from Thailand

Any new pandemic has the potential to arouse considerable anxiety, with this anxiety associated in previous work with economic disruption and societal disruption. We examined anxiety, symptom awareness, trust and associated behavioural responses in the first three weeks of the SARS-CoV-2 (covid-19) outbreak in Thailand. We collected data on-street at randomly selected locations in Bangkok. Of 274 potential respondents, 203 (74.7%) responded. A four-item measure assessed anxiety, with open-ended questions assessing knowledge of symptoms, trusted information sources and measures taken to avoid infection. Respondents reported good awareness of the prime symptoms of the Coronovirus. Binary logistic regressions controlling for sex and age found the more anxious avoided the Chinese, people who were coughing, crowded places and public transport or flying. Younger respondents reported greater trust in foreign media and older populations information from national government. Trust in doctors online was positively associated with handwashing, avoidance of coughing people and keeping fit; trust in national government with avoiding coughing people, keeping fit, avoiding public transport and avoiding Chinese people. We conclude that anxiety can motivate both desirable and undesirable behaviours during pandemic outbreaks. Effective and targeted communication by trusted sources is needed to motivate preventive actions but also limit unnecessary or disruptive behaviours

Anxiety, perceived control and pandemic behaviour in Thailand during COVID-19 : results from a national survey

Anxiety, perceived control and trust in information sources have all been shown to significantly influence health and social behaviours during pandemics. We measured these factors in a nationally representative on-street survey collected across five regions of Thailand (N = 1000, May 2020, response rate 82.6%). Anxiety was positively associated with stocking up on food (OR 2.62 (95% CI 1.88–3.66)) and taking vitamins (OR 2.37 (1.59–3.54)); perceived control with (recommended) coughing into an elbow (OR 2.42 (1.80–3.26)), checking on others (OR 1.52 (1.00–2.31)), and negatively with stockpiling (OR 0.72 (0.55-0.96)). Those relying on family/friends, doctors online or foreign sources were more likely to take vitamins (ORs 4.11, 2.88. 2.82), respondents using TV news less likely to stock up on food (OR 0.57 (0.37-0.86)) and to wear a mask for self-protection (OR 0.27 (0.10-0.73)). Comparing findings with analogous cross-sectional data on anxiety collected at the start of the pandemic (Feb 2020, Goodwin et al., 2020) there was no significant difference between personal anxiety in the two surveys (F (1, 1197) = 0.72, p = .40)) but perceived control was lower in the later survey (F (1, 1197) = 6.72 p = .01)). Findings suggest reduced perceived control as the pandemic developed and illuminate possible negative impacts of anxiety and low sense of control on pandemic behaviours

Two-tailed dogs, social unrest and COVID-19 vaccination : politics, hesitancy and vaccine choice in Hungary and Thailand

Background: A long tradition of research has shown an association between political orientation and vaccine uptake. However, we know little about political preferences and the choice of specific vaccines. Methods: We conducted two national surveys, in Hungary (Study 1, online, n = 1130) and Thailand (Study 2, on the street survey: n = 1052), testing associations between political allegiance, trust in government, vaccine willingness, and vaccine choice. Results: In Hungary, those supporting the government or on the political right were more willing to be vaccinated, with this association strongest for government approved vaccines. These respondents were also more likely to accept Chinese and Russian vaccines and reject the Moderna vaccine. In Thailand, vaccinated respondents reported greater trust in the government, with preference for AstraZeneca associated with support for pro-government political parties and preference for Pfizer with anti-government attitudes. Conclusions: Vaccine campaigns need to recognise the role of political loyalties not only in vaccine willingness, but in vaccine choice, especially given the mixing of vaccines across doses

The relationship between prenatal exposure to organophosphate insecticides and neurodevelopmental integrity of infants at 5-weeks of age

IntroductionOrganophosphate (OP) insecticides are among the most abundantly used insecticides worldwide. Thailand ranked third among 15 Asian countries in its use of pesticides per unit hectare and fourth in annual pesticide use. More than 40% of Thai women of childbearing age work on farms where pesticides are applied. Thus, the potential for pregnant women and their fetuses to be exposed to pesticides is significant. This study investigated the relationship between early, mid, and late pregnancy maternal urine concentrations of OP metabolites and infant neural integrity at 5 weeks of age.MethodWe enrolled women employed on farms from two antenatal clinics in the Chiang Mai province of northern Thailand. We collected urine samples monthly during pregnancy, composited them by early, mid and late pregnancy and analyzed the composited samples for dialkylphosphate (DAP) metabolites of OP insecticides. At 5 weeks after birth, nurses certified in use of the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS) completed the evaluation of 320 healthy infants. We employed generalized linear regression, logistic and Poisson models to determine the association between NNNS outcomes and DAP concentrations. All analyses were adjusted for confounders and included creatinine as an independent variable.ResultsWe did not observe trimester specific associations between DAP concentrations and NNNS outcomes. Instead, we observed statistically significant inverse associations between NNNS arousal (β = −0.10; CI: −0.17, −0.002; p = 0.0091) and excitability [0.79 (0.68, 0.92; p = 0.0026)] among participants with higher average prenatal DAP concentrations across pregnancy. We identified 3 NNNS profiles by latent profile analysis. Higher prenatal maternal DAP concentrations were associated with higher odds of being classified in a profile indicative of greater self-regulation and attention, but arousal and excitability scores below the 50th percentile relative to US normative samples [OR = 1.47 (CI: 1.05, 2.06; p = 0.03)]. Similar findings are also observed among infants with prenatal exposure to substances of abuse (e.g., methamphetamine).DiscussionOverall, the associations between prenatal DAP concentrations and NNNS summary scores were not significant. Further evaluations are warranted to determine the implications of low arousal and excitability for neurodevelopmental outcomes of attention and memory and whether these results are transitory or imply inadequate responsivity to stimulation among children as they develop

Effectiveness of Essence of Chicken on Cognitive Function Improvement: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

High-quality, adequately-powered clinical trials investigating the effect of Essence of Chicken (EC) on cognitive function are lacking. We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial on healthy adult volunteers to determine the effect of EC on short-term memory, working memory, and selective and sustained attention. As a secondary objective, we evaluated baseline stress as a modifying factor by including treatment, stress and visit as main effects in a three-way ANOVA model. Cognitive function was evaluated at baseline, and Days 7 and 14. Data from 235 participants were analyzed on a per-protocol basis. The three-way interaction effect was significant (p = 0.020) in Digit Span Forward and further analyses showed EC improved test performance in moderate (p = 0.041) and severe stress (p = 0.065) but not in normal and mild stress subgroups. In Digit Span Backward, EC group showed greater improvement compared to placebo (p = 0.028), with 0.60 digits (8.50% improvement from baseline) more recalled on Day 7. No treatment or interaction effects were statistically significant in selective and sustained attention tests. Our findings support EC’s effect in improving mental processes used in working memory among healthy adults and short-term memory among healthy adults experiencing stress in daily life