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Biomedical subjects

O Robin

Publications and source records attributed to O Robin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Gender influence on emotional responses to primary tastes.

Several studies have examined the gender differences in the area of emotion, but few data are available in the field of gustation. Yet, such differences are observed in clinical manifestations of nutritional disorders, such as a greater incidence of carbohydrate cravings in women. The aim of this study was consequently to examine the influence of gender on emotional responses to taste, by comparing autonomic responses and basic emotions associated with primary tastes between men and women. Thirty-four subjects (17 males, 17 females, mean age=28) participated in the experiment. Taste stimuli were solutions of 0.3 M sucrose (sweet), 0.15 M NaCl (salty), 0.02 M citric acid (sour) and 0.00015 M quinine sulfate (bitter). Evian mineral water served as the diluent and control (neutral taste). Five autonomic parameters [skin potential (SP) and resistance (SR), skin blood flow (SBF) and temperature (ST), instantaneous heart rate (IHR)] were simultaneously and continuously recorded when subjects tasted the five solutions. The patterns of autonomic responses, obtained for each primary taste and each subject, were transcribed into one of the six basic emotions defined by Ekman (happiness, surprise, sadness, fear, anger and disgust), according to a previously described method for odorants. Results evidenced that the mean variations of each autonomic parameter did not significantly differ between men and women, even if skin resistance and cardiac responses were stronger in men than in women. Concerning the basic emotions associated with each primary taste, a similar distribution for men and women was obtained for sweet, bitter and control solutions, whereas more differences were observed for salt (P=.02) and sour solutions.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Autonomic nervous system responses associated with primary tastes.

The hedonic dimension of the taste sensation plays a crucial role in the control of many taste-mediated responses related to food ingestion or rejection. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the emotional reactivity associated with each primary taste (sweet, salty, sour and bitter) through analysis of the variations of autonomic nervous system (ANS) parameters. Thirty-four healthy non-smoker volunteer subjects (17 males and 17 females, mean age = 28 years) participated in the experiment. Taste stimuli were solutions of 0.3 M sucrose (sweet), 0.15 M NaCl (salty), 0.02 M citric acid (sour) and 0.00015 M quinine sulfate (bitter). Evian mineral water was used as the diluent and control (neutral taste). Throughout the test, five ANS parameters (skin potential and skin resistance, skin blood flow and skin temperature, and instantaneous heart rate) were simultaneously and continuously recorded. Results of the ANOVA evidenced a significant effect of primary taste on skin resistance amplitude (P: < 0.001) and duration (P: < 0.0001), skin temperature amplitude (P: < 0.001), skin blood flow amplitude (vasoconstriction) (P: < 0.0001) and instantaneous heart rate increase (P: < 0.0001). Skin resistance and cardiac responses were the most relevant ANS parameters to distinguish among the taste solutions. The four primary tastes could be associated with significantly different ANS responses in relation to their hedonic valence: the pleasantly connoted and innate-accepted sweet taste induced the weakest ANS responses whereas the unpleasant connoted tastes (salty, sour and bitter) induced stronger ANS responses, the innate-rejected bitter taste inducing the strongest ones. Such a neurovegetative characterization of each primary taste could provide references for the hedonic analysis of the more complex gustative sensation attached to foods.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Basic emotions evoked by eugenol odor differ according to the dental experience. A neurovegetative analysis.

Subjective individual experiences seem to indicate that odors may form strong connections with memories, especially those charged with emotional significance. In the dental field, this could be the case with the odorant eugenol, responsible for the typical clinging odor impregnating the dental office. The odor of eugenol could evoke memories of unpleasant dental experiences and, therefore, negative feelings such as anxiety and fear, since eugenates (cements containing eugenol) are used in potentially painful restorative dentistry. This hypothesis was tested by evaluating the emotional impact of the odor of eugenol through autonomic nervous system (ANS) analysis. The simultaneous variations of six ANS parameters (two electrodermal, two thermovascular and two cardiorespiratory), induced by the inhalation of this odorant, were recorded on volunteer subjects. Vanillin (a pleasant odorant) and propionic acid (an unpleasant one) served as controls. After the experiment, subjects were asked to rate the pleasantness versus unpleasantness of each odorant on an 11-point hedonic scale. The patterns of autonomic responses, obtained for each odorant and each subject, were transcribed into one of the six basic emotions defined by Ekman et al. (happiness, surprise, sadness, fear, anger and disgust). Results were compared between two groups of subjects divided according to their dental experience (fearful and non-fearful dental care subjects) and showed significant differences only for eugenol. This odorant was rated as pleasant by non-fearful dental subjects but unpleasant by fearful dental subjects. The evoked autonomic responses were mainly associated with positive basic emotions (happiness and surprise) in non-fearful dental subjects and with negative basic emotions (fear, anger, disgust) in fearful dental subjects. These results suggest that eugenol can be responsible for different emotional states depending on the subjects' dental experience, which seems to confirm the potential role of odors as elicitors of emotional memories. This study also supports the possible influence of the ambient odor impregnating the dental office, strengthening a negative conditioning toward dental care in some anxious patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Emotional responses evoked by dental odors: an evaluation from autonomic parameters.

Among the factors which could explain avoidance behavior toward dental care, the typical clinging odor of the dental office, due to eugenol, is investigated in this study. The hypothesis is supported by the well-known effects of odorants which may influence cognition, emotion, and behavior. The association between the odor of eugenol and dental fear and anxiety could be explained by the fact that eugenates (eugenol-containing cements) are often used in potentially painful restorative dentistry on vital teeth. The emotional impact of the odors of eugenol and two other dental products (menthol and methyl methacrylate) was evaluated on volunteer subjects through autonomic nervous system (ANS) analysis by recording the variations of six ANS parameters (two electrodermal, two thermovascular, and two cardiorespiratory) induced by the inhalation of the odorants. After the experiment, subjects were asked to fill out an 11-point hedonic scale to rate the pleasantness vs. unpleasantness for each odorant. Results were compared between two groups of subjects divided according to their own dental experience (fearful and non-fearful dental-care subjects). These showed that, in both groups, menthol was rated as pleasant and methyl methacrylate as very unpleasant, whereas eugenol was judged pleasant by non-fearful subjects but unpleasant by fearful subjects. Concerning autonomic analysis, only eugenol induced significantly different patterns of ANS responses between the two groups, with stronger variations for dentally fearful subjects, mainly observed through the electrodermal channel. These results suggest that eugenol can be responsible for different emotional states, depending on the unpleasantness of the subjects' dental experience. This seems to confirm the role of odors as elicitors of emotional memories and to support the possible influence of eugenol odor on the avoidance behavior of some subjects toward dental care.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Basic emotions evoked by odorants: comparison between autonomic responses and self-evaluation.

The present study was designed to analyze the relationship between self-report and physiological expression of basic emotions (happiness, surprise, fear, sadness, disgust and anger) in response to odorants. 44 subjects inhaled five odorants: vanillin, menthol, eugenol, methyl methacrylate, and propionic acid. Six autonomic nervous systems (ANS) parameters were simultaneously recorded in real time and without interference: Skin Potential (SP), Skin Resistance (SR), Skin Temperature (ST), Skin Blood Flow (SBF), Instantaneous Respiratory Frequency (IRF) and Instantaneous Heart Rate (IHR). At the end of the recording, subjects were instructed i) to identify the odorants roughly II) to situate them on an 11-point hedonic scale from highly pleasant (0) to highly unpleasant (10); and iii) to define what type of basic emotion was evoked by each odorant. In this study, the expected affects were aroused in the subjects. Vanillin and menthol were rated pleasant, while methyl methacrylate and propionic acid were judged unpleasant. Eugenol was median in hedonic estimation. ANS evaluation (each autonomic pattern induced by an odorant was transcripted into a basic emotion) shows that pleasantly connoted odorants evoked mainly happiness and surprise, but that unpleasant ones induced mainly disgust and anger. Eugenol was associated with positive and negative affects. Comparison between conscious (verbal) and unconscious (ANS) emotions, reveals that these two estimations 1) were not significantly different as far as the two pleasant odorants were concerned, 2) showed a tendency to be significantly different for eugenol odorant which was variably scored on the hedonic axis, and 3) exhibited a significant difference for the two unpleasant odorants, for which the corresponding "verbal emotion" was mainly "disgust", while the most frequent ANS emotion was "anger". In conclusion, these results show quite a good correlation between verbal and ANS estimated basic emotions. The main difference concerns anger: while there is a high occurrence of this emotion revealed by the analysis of ANS responses, it does not appear to be easily expressed through the verbal channel.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The ohmic perturbation duration, an original temporal index to quantify electrodermal responses.

The reactivity of the autonomic nervous system was (D.C.) recorded using six parameters simultaneously. Such a device permitted to describe a new index of skin resistance response (SRR). The ohmic perturbation duration (O.P.D. index) was defined as the period during which the subject is effectively responding to the stimulation. O.P.D. index was easily quantified because the specific part of the response, showing many fluctuations at a low resistance level, can be distinguished from the recovery part without fluctuations or with smaller microevents of different kinds. Moreover, the slope of this fluctuation is identical to that observed just before the stimulation. The comparison between the values of the O.P.D. index and classically used SRR durations enabled us to calculate the identity percentages from five other neurovegetative parameters. Results showed high values for the skin potential (91%) and skin blood flow (82.5%). These values were smaller as far as skin superficial temperature (50.5%), heart (40.8%) and respiratory (46.5%) variations were concerned. Nonetheless these last three percentages were still higher than those usually obtained with the values of the correlation coefficients from different, simultaneously recorded parameters. O.P.D. index comparison with four other classical used temporal indices (recovery time, 1/3, 1/2 and 2/3 of the recovery time) show a high significant concordance in O.P.D. index opposed to aleatory one obtained with these four other durations. Thus, the O.P.D. index could be an appropriate measure of electrodermal response (EDA) allowing any stimulus to be temporarily quantified towards sympathetic activation induced response.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The influence of basal anxiety on unstimulated parotid and submandibular saliva.

Stress modifies numerous physiological variables, such as salivary secretion. The relation between salivary constituents, biophysical variables and personality traits defined by the Cattell's anxiety scale was studied. The main result was, that in the absence of stress, no statistically significant differences are to be found between the three groups defined on the Cattell scale.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

A comparison of energy metabolism and the effects of beta-adrenergic stimulation in the tongue and attached gingiva of the dog.

Glucose-6-phosphate (G6P), ATP, phosphorylcreatine (CP) and lactate were assayed in the tongue attached gingiva of dogs. The G6P content was found to be significantly higher, and both the ATP and CP contents even more significantly higher in the tongue than in the attached gingiva. Lactate content was not significantly different in the gingiva and in the tongue. The changes in the concentrations of G6P, ATP, CP and lactate due to the intravenous infusion of isoproterenol hydrochloride (1 micrograms/kg/min) were as follows. In the tongue, G6P exhibited a significant increase, but the decrease in ATP and CP contents as well as the increase in lactate content were not significant. It is possible that these effects were the result of the activation of beta-adrenergic receptors by isoproterenol. In the attached gingiva, there was no significant change in the G6P, ATP, or CP content. Lactate increased to a greater degree than the other three components, but similarly did not reach the significant level.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1979

[Semi-automatic assay of post-heparin plasma lipoprotein lipase activity (author's transl)].

A simple method for the assay of post-heparin plasma lipoprotein lipase activity is described. The substrate was a stable intralipid solution. The amount of fatty acids released in the 37 degrees C incubation medium was measured several time during the reaction course, by light absorption on a Technicon auto-analyzer. By plotting these values on a graph paper, the curve of the post-heparin plasma lipoprotein lipase activity was obtained.

Autoanalysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Induction of hyperlipemia by carbohydrate-rich fractions isolated from crude papain.

A hyperlipemia was obtained in rabbits injected intravenously with two carbohydrate-rich fractions isolated from crude papain dialyzate. The fractions have an approximative molecular weight of 15,000 and 5,000 daltons and contains 35% and 15% of sugars respectively. The hyperlipemia appears 20 hours after the injection and consists in a hypertriglyceridaemia as suggested by the enrichment of serum in very light lipoproteins of density about 1.006. Concomittantly a decrease of the post-heparin lipase activity (PHLA) of the plasma was observed. After a few days the hyperlipemia disappears and the PHLA returns to a normal value. It is suggested that the hypertriglyceridaemia can be due to an inhibitory effect of the injected fractions on the removal action of the lipases which are released into the blood by an heparin injection.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Diazepam (valium) in premedication. Experimental findings].

The anxiolytic and analgesic effects of 10 mg of orally administered diazepam (Valium) were assessed on 10 volunteers. The electrodermal activity was recorded during two experimental sessions while cutaneous electrical stimulations were administered to the subjects. On one hand, the anxiolytic activity of diazepam could be observed by a decrease of both autonomic nervous system and anticipatory activities. On the other hand, an increase of the pain threshold could be shown under diazepam by lower responses to the stimulations. These results confirm that diazepam can be useful in anxious patients undergoing dental procedures.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Analgesic property of white noise: an experimental study.

The analgesic property of white noise was assessed in 100 healthy volunteer students. Each of them was asked to self administer electrical square wave impulses in order to determine 3 physiological parameters of pain sensation: perception threshold, pain threshold and pain tolerance. These measurements were first performed without any acoustic stimulation and then with a 100 dB white noise. The results showed that the 3 thresholds were significantly increased under white noise. However, the relatively lower average increase obtained for pain threshold and tolerance compared to the perception level, and the great variability of the analgesic efficiency of white noise among subjects, show that this analgesic process is not reliable enough to be useful in medical or dental practice.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Influence of sex and anxiety on pain threshold and tolerance.

The influence of sex and anxiety on experimental pain perception was studied in a homogeneous population of 50 volunteer and healthy dental students. Three threshold (minimum perceptible threshold, pain threshold and pain tolerance threshold) were determined by delivering electrical stimulations, at regular intervals, on the left hand finger pads. At the same time, the students were asked to complete the Cattell's anxiety test, so allowing their degree of anxiety to be quantified. Statistical analysis of the results showed a lower pain tolerance threshold in females than in males and a significant correlation between the anxiety score and the pain tolerance threshold. The fact that females are more anxious than males could explain these results.

Adult↗