Emotional eating as a mediator between anxiety and cholesterol in population with overweight and hypertension

Although the relationship between cholesterol and mood states (especially anxiety) has been well studied, few researches have included the role of eating styles in this relationship. This study explored the associations among eating styles, negative emotional symptoms, and levels of cholesterol (and other medical variables) in a population with hypertension and overweight or obesity, analyzing the possible mediation mechanisms involved. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 68 adults with hypertension and overweight/obesity, and stepwise multiple regression analysis and mediation analyses were carried out to test the hypothesis that eating styles mediate the relationship between negative emotional symptoms and cholesterol. Several significant correlations among age, anthropometric, medical, and psychological variables (eating styles and negative emotional symptoms) were found. There was a significant indirect effect of anxiety on total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol through emotional eating. Results suggest that emotional eating has a relevant role in the rise in total and LDL cholesterol, acting as a mediator in the relationship between anxiety and cholesterol. This finding could have important implications, since it introduces a new variable in the relationship between emotions and cholesterol and, therefore, changes the way of understanding this relationship, and of treating high cholesterol in a hypertensive sample.     

Association of hypertension-related distress with lack of self-care among hypertensive patients

Research on factors associated with poor adherence to self-care focuses primarily on psychiatric emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety, whereas non-psychiatric chronic-disease-related emotional distress has received little attention in hypertensive patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of hypertension-related distress with the lack of self-care including low adherence to pharmacological treatment, lack of regular physical activity, low intake of fruits and vegetables and frequent intake of high-salt foods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2014 in two family medical units affiliated with the Mexican Institute of Social Security. The study included 487 hypertensive patients >19 years of age. The conceptual framework for the study was based on the Health Promotion Model. The analysis included multiple Poisson regression models. We found that 21.1% of participants had hypertension-related distress. Low adherence to pharmacological treatment was identified in 45.8% of patients, whereas 46.8% lacked regular physical activity, 30.8% reported a low consumption of fruits and vegetables, and 54.6% frequently consumed foods high in salt content. Hypertension-related distress was associated with lack of regular physical activity and low intake of fruits and vegetables. These findings highlight the importance of addressing distress in order to improve self-care of hypertensive patients.     

How the threat of losses makes people <Emphasis Type="Italic">explore</Emphasis> more than the promise of gains

Until recently, loss aversion has been inferred exclusively from choice asymmetries in the loss and gain domains. This study examines the impact of the prospect of losses on exploratory search in a situation in which exploration is costly. Taking advantage of the largest available data set of decisions from experience, analyses showed that most people explore payoff distributions more under the threat of a loss than under the promise of a gain. This behavioral regularity thus occurs in both costly search and cost-free search (see Lejarraga, Hertwig, & Gonzalez, Cognition, 124, 334–342, 2012). Furthermore, a model comparison identified the simple win-stay-lose-shift heuristic as a likely candidate mechanism behind the loss–gain exploration asymmetry observed. In contrast, models assuming loss aversion failed to reproduce the asymmetry. Moreover, the asymmetry was not simply a precursor of loss aversion but a phenomenon separate from it. These findings are consistent with the recently proposed notion of intensified vigilance in the face of potential losses.     

Where have all the (ape) gestures gone?

Comparative analysis of the gestural communication of our nearest animal relatives, the great apes, implies that humans should have the biological potential to produce and understand 60–70 gestures, by virtue of shared common descent. These gestures are used intentionally in apes to convey separate requests, rather than as referential items in syntactically structured signals. At present, no such legacy of shared gesture has been described in humans. We suggest that the fate of “ape gestures” in modern human communication is relevant to the debate regarding the evolution of language through a possible intermediate stage of gestural protolanguage.     

Examining the Unique Characteristics of a Non-Probability Sample of Undocumented Female Sex Workers with Dependent Children: The Case of Haitians in the Dominican Republic

Haitians in the Dominican Republic (DR) are increasingly marginalized due to recent legislation that stripped Haitian-Dominicans of their citizenship and increased Haitian migrants’ deportation risk. Haitian female sex workers (FSWs) are particularly vulnerable, though little is known about them. This study will help public health efforts targeted at sex workers to better reach Haitian FSWs and address their needs by identifying a profile of characteristics unique to this group compared to Dominican FSWs. Data were collected in 2014 among Haitian and Dominican FSWs in Puerto Plata, DR. Surveys assessed respondents’ demographics, health consciousness, depression, and stigma. Adjusted logistic regressions showed that Haitian FSWs were disadvantaged: they had significantly lower rates of education, more children, and less permanent income. Furthermore, Haitian FSWs were more likely to work independently and for fewer hours. Interestingly, Haitian FSWs internalized less stigma than Dominicans. Though we can only speculate, this could be due to migration for sex work, or the lack of formal employment for Haitians. Initiatives to alleviate poverty, create formal jobs, and overturn discriminatory legislation may have the most impact for Haitian FSWs.     

Characterization of controlled gamblers and pathological gamblers using the social representation theory

Introduction

In industrialized countries, gambling disorder tends to become a major issue. The use of the social representation theory provides clues for a better understanding of pathological gamblers.

Perceptions on well-being at home of families with people with disabilities: A psycho-environmental perspective

Introduction

Although the home is of major importance in the lives of people with disabilities, few studies address disability in the literature on home and health. Moreover, people with disabilities and their family members’ perceptions of their homes has rarely been explored.

Teachers’ sense of responsibility for educational outcomes and its associations with teachers’ instructional approaches and professional wellbeing

Teachers’ formal accountability and duties have been the focus of high-stakes educational reforms, for instance in the context of national accountability systems. Yet, teachers’ sense of personal (rather than formal) responsibility and willingness to assume responsibility for their teaching and students remains an understudied area. The main purpose of this study was to investigate contextual and person-specific predictors of teachers’ sense of personal responsibility, as well as the potential implications of teachers’ personal responsibility for their instructional approaches and wellbeing. A path analysis indicated that high school teachers (n = 287) who felt responsible for their teaching and students reported higher levels of work engagement and job satisfaction than less responsible teachers, and were more likely to endorse mastery-oriented instructional practices that emphasized student effort, task mastery, and individual growth. Teachers’ perceptions of their school’s social climate (teachers’ evaluations of their relationships with students), their sense of teaching self-efficacy, and incremental beliefs of intelligence emerged as positive predictors of teacher responsibility. Teacher responsibility partially mediated the positive effects of these predictors on teachers’ wellbeing and mastery-oriented instructional practices. The results suggest that both contextual (e.g., school climate) and person-specific (e.g., self-efficacy) factors can contribute to teachers’ sense of personal responsibility, and that responsibility, in turn, can have positive implications for teachers’ wellbeing and instructional practices. Directions for future research and practical implications are considered.     

Gratitude,Rights, and Moral Standouts

Many maintain that if a beneficiary has a right to a benefit provided by his benefactor, then the former cannot owe the latter gratitude for that benefit. In this paper I argue against that view. I provide examples in which benefactors provide others with benefits to which they have a right even though most others are denying them that right. These benefactors are moral standouts; they do what is right when most similarly situated agents fail to do so. I then spell out some of the features of these benefactors’ actions that make them worthy of gratitude.     

But for the Grace of God: Abortion and Cognitive Disability,Luck and Moral Status

Many theories of moral status that are intended to ground pro-choice views on abortion tie full moral status to advanced cognitive capabilities. Extant accounts of this kind are inconsistent with the intuition that the profoundly cognitively disabled have full moral status. This paper improves upon these extant accounts by combining an anti-luck condition with Steinbock’s stratification of moral status into two levels. On the resulting view, a being has full moral status if and only if (1) she has moral status and (2) (a) has had advanced cognitive capacities, (b) has the potential to develop such capacities, or (c) would have had such capacities were it not for luck. I argue that modal accounts of luck provide a non-speciesist basis for attributing the lack of advanced cognitive capacities in humans to luck without doing the same for non-human animals.