The Role of Disgust in Eating Disorders

Disgust, a basic emotional response, which influences approach/avoidance behaviors, has been studied in various psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. The current study employed exploratory correlations and hierarchical linear regressions (controlling for race, anxiety, and depression) in order to be able to observe the relationships among three traditional domains of disgust (i.e., core, animal-reminder, contamination) and eating disordered behaviors. Results revealed significant correlations between core disgust and dieting behaviors, in addition to contamination disgust and bulimia and symptoms of food preoccupation as well as behaviors concerning self-control around food-related stimuli (i.e., oral control). More importantly, disgust sensitivity was significant in predicting oral control and significantly accounted for 4.7% of the unique variance in predicting symptoms of bulimia and preoccupation with food. These results reveal the significant role of contamination disgust in the development and maintenance of eating pathology above and beyond known predictors of maladaptive eating and other domains of disgust. Implications of the current findings as well as future directions are discussed

Selection Criteria for Scuba Diver\u27s Wetsuit

The purpose of this study was to assess the functional, expressive, and aesthetic attributes of wetsuits considered important by scuba divers. To identify the functional, expressive, and aesthetic attributes of wetsuits, FEA Consumer Needs Model (Lamb & Kallal, 1992) was used. Research questions examined are: (1) What are the wetsuit attributes considered important by scuba divers based on gender? (2) What are the wetsuit attributes considered important by scuba divers based on age? (3) What are the wetsuit attributes considered important by scuba divers based on scuba diving commitment level

Anti-tumor effects of NK cells and anti-PD-L1 antibody with antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity in PD-L1-positive cancer cell lines

Background Although programmed cell death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors show remarkable antitumor activity, a large portion of patients with cancer, even those with high PD-L1-expressing tumors, do not respond to their effects. Most PD-L1 inhibitors contain modified fragment crystallizable region (Fc) receptor binding sites to prevent antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) against PD-L1-expressing non-tumor cells. However, natural killer (NK) cells have specific antitumor activity in the presence of tumor-targeting antibody through ADCC, which could enhance NK cell-induced cytotoxicity. We evaluated the antitumor efficacy of ADCC via anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and NK cells against several PD-L1-positive cancer cell lines. Methods Various cancer cell lines were used as target cell lines. Surface PD-L1 expression was analyzed by flow cytometry. IMC-001 and anti-hPD-L1-hIgG1 were tested as anti-PD-L1 mAbs with ADCC and atezolizumab as an anti-PD-L1 mAb without ADCC. NK cell cytotoxicity was measured by(51)Cr-release assay and CD107a degranulation assay. Also, live cell imaging was performed to evaluate cytotoxicity in a single-cell level. NK-92-CD16 (CD16-transduced NK-92 cell line) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors, respectively, were used as an effector cell. Fc gamma RIIIa (CD16a)-V158F genotyping was performed for healthy donors. Results We demonstrated that the cytotoxicity of NK-92-CD16 cells toward PD-L1-positive cancer cell lines was significantly enhanced in the presence of anti-PD-L1 mAb with ADCC. We also noted a significant increase in primary human NK cell cytotoxicity against PD-L1-positive human cancer cells when cocultured with anti-PD-L1 mAb with ADCC. Moreover, NK cells expressing aFCGR3Ahigh-affinity genotype displayed higher anti-PD-L1 mAb-mediated ADCC lysis of tumor cells than donors with a low-affinity genotype. Conclusion These results suggest that NK cells induce an ADCC response in combination with anti-PD-L1 mAbs, which helps promote ADCC antitumor activity against PD-L1-positive tumors. This study provides support for NK cell immunotherapy against high PD-L1-expressing tumors in combination with ADCC through anti-PD-L1 mAbs.

Alpha-tocopherol exerts protective function against the mucotoxicity of particulate matter in amphibian and human goblet cells

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) in ambient air is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disorders and mortality. The cytotoxicity of PM is mainly due to the abnormal increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which damage cellular components such as DNA, RNA, and proteins. The correlation between PM exposure and human disorders, including mortality, is based on long-term exposure. In this study we have investigated acute responses of mucus-secreting goblet cells upon exposure to PM derived from a heavy diesel engine. To this end, we employed the mucociliary epithelium of amphibian embryos and human Calu-3 cells to examine PM mucotoxicity. Our data suggest that acute exposure to PM significantly impairs mucus secretion and results in the accumulation of mucus vesicles in the cytoplasm of goblet cells. RNA-seq analysis revealed that acute responses to PM exposure significantly altered gene expression patterns; however, known regulators of mucus production and the secretory pathway were not significantly altered. Interestingly, pretreatment with alpha-tocopherol nearly recovered the hyposecretion of mucus from both amphibian and human goblet cells. We believe this study demonstrates the mucotoxicity of PM and the protective function of alpha-tocopherol on mucotoxicity caused by acute PM exposure from heavy diesel engines