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id	10.1371/journal.pone.0254981
publication_date	2021-08-18T00:00:00Z
abstract	Influenza viruses are known to be infected through epithelial cells of the upper respiratory tract. The oral cavity is in close anatomical proximity to the upper respiratory tract, and it is conceivable that the viruses could pass through the oral cavity and infect to the upper respiratory tract. Several researchers have suggested that colonization of certain pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus pneumoniae might affect the risk of influenza viral disease, indicating that oral hygiene and/or condition might play an important role in respiratory viral infection. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether an oral hygiene/condition might impact influenza infection. We conducted a retrospective observational study of Japanese citizens’ regional cohort (N = 2,904) consisting of National Health Insurance beneficiaries who underwent annual health/dental examination with data entries in the Kokuho database (KDB). Trained dentists checked the oral hygiene/condition, and saliva specimens were examined using the LION dental saliva multi-test (SMT) kit. Influenza infection was identified from the diagnosis recorded in the KDB. The correlations between influenza infection and oral hygiene, dryness of the mouth, or various salivary test results were examined by a multivariate analysis adjusting for confounding factors such as gender, age, recent smoking, alcohol drinking, BMI, HbA1c, RBC for influenza infection. The logistic regression model showed that age significantly correlated with influenza infection. In addition, oral hygiene status had a nearly significant impact on influenza infection (p = 0.061), whereby, the subjects with poor oral hygiene had a higher risk of influenza infection than those with good oral hygiene (odds ratio: 1.63, 95% confidence interval: 0.89–2.95). Further, the prevalence of influenza infection was lower in the subjects with saliva weakly acidic and/or containing higher protein level. The results of this study suggested that the maintenance of oral health conditions might be one of the pivotal factors for preventing and reducing influenza infection.
title_display	Exploration of correlation of oral hygiene and condition with influenza infection

id	10.1371/journal.pone.0043007
publication_date	2012-08-17T00:00:00Z
abstract	Background: High levels of alcohol consumption and increases in heavy episodic drinking (binge drinking) are a growing public concern, due to their association with increased risk of personal and societal harm. Alcohol consumption has been shown to be sensitive to factors such as price and availability. The aim of this study was to explore the influence of glass shape on the rate of consumption of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Methods: This was an experimental design with beverage (lager, soft drink), glass (straight, curved) and quantity (6 fl oz, 12 fl oz) as between-subjects factors. Social male and female alcohol consumers (n = 159) attended two experimental sessions, and were randomised to drink either lager or a soft drink from either a curved or straight-sided glass, and complete a computerised task identifying perceived midpoint of the two glasses (order counterbalanced). Ethical approval was granted by the Faculty of Science Research Ethics Committee at the University of Bristol. The primary outcome measures were total drinking time of an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage, and perceptual judgement of the half-way point of a straight and curved glass. Results: Participants were 60% slower to consume an alcoholic beverage from a straight glass compared to a curved glass. This effect was only observed for a full glass and not a half-full glass, and was not observed for a non-alcoholic beverage. Participants also misjudged the half-way point of a curved glass to a greater degree than that of a straight glass, and there was a trend towards a positive association between the degree of error and total drinking time. Conclusions: Glass shape appears to influence the rate of drinking of alcoholic beverages. This may represent a modifiable target for public health interventions.
title_display	Glass Shape Influences Consumption Rate for Alcoholic Beverages

id	10.1371/journal.pone.0298007
publication_date	2024-04-01T00:00:00Z
abstract	The critical flicker fusion threshold is a psychophysical measure commonly used to quantify visual temporal resolution; the fastest rate at which a visual system can discriminate visual signals. Critical flicker fusion thresholds vary substantially among species, reflecting different ecological niches and demands. However, it is unclear how much variation exists in flicker fusion thresholds between healthy individuals of the same species, or how stable this attribute is over time within individuals. In this study, we assessed both inter- and intra-individual variation in critical flicker fusion thresholds in a cohort of healthy human participants within a specific age range, using two common psychophysical methods and three different measurements during each session. The resulting thresholds for each method were highly correlated. We found a between-participant maximum difference of roughly 30 Hz in flicker fusion thresholds and we estimated a 95% prediction interval of 21 Hz. We used random-effects models to compare between- and within-participant variance and found that approximately 80% of variance was due to between-individual differences, and about 10% of the variance originated from within-individual differences over three sessions. Within-individual thresholds did not differ significantly between the three sessions in males, but did in females (P<0.001 for two methods and P<0.05 for one method), indicating that critical flicker fusion thresholds may be more variable in females than in males.
title_display	The speed of sight: Individual variation in critical flicker fusion thresholds

id	10.1371/journal.pone.0187779
publication_date	2017-12-06T00:00:00Z
abstract	Maintaining grey matter within the hippocampus is important for healthy cognition. Playing 3D-platform video games has previously been shown to promote grey matter in the hippocampus in younger adults. In the current study, we tested the impact of 3D-platform video game training (i.e., Super Mario 64) on grey matter in the hippocampus, cerebellum, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of older adults. Older adults who were 55 to 75 years of age were randomized into three groups. The video game experimental group (VID; n = 8) engaged in a 3D-platform video game training over a period of 6 months. Additionally, an active control group took a series of self-directed, computerized music (piano) lessons (MUS; n = 12), while a no-contact control group did not engage in any intervention (CON; n = 13). After training, a within-subject increase in grey matter within the hippocampus was significant only in the VID training group, replicating results observed in younger adults. Active control MUS training did, however, lead to a within-subject increase in the DLPFC, while both the VID and MUS training produced growth in the cerebellum. In contrast, the CON group displayed significant grey matter loss in the hippocampus, cerebellum and the DLPFC.
title_display	Playing Super Mario 64 increases hippocampal grey matter in older adults

id	10.1371/journal.pone.0197002
publication_date	2018-06-20T00:00:00Z
abstract	The psychological state of a person is characterised by cognitive and emotional variables which can be inferred by psychometric methods. Using the word lists from the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, designed to infer a range of psychological states from the word usage of a person, we studied temporal changes in the average expression of psychological traits in the general population. We sampled the contents of Twitter in the United Kingdom at hourly intervals for a period of four years, revealing a strong diurnal rhythm in most of the psychometric variables, and finding that two independent factors can explain 85% of the variance across their 24-h profiles. The first has peak expression time starting at 5am/6am, it correlates with measures of analytical thinking, with the language of drive (e.g power, and achievement), and personal concerns. It is anticorrelated with the language of negative affect and social concerns. The second factor has peak expression time starting at 3am/4am, it correlates with the language of existential concerns, and anticorrelates with expression of positive emotions. Overall, we see strong evidence that our language changes dramatically between night and day, reflecting changes in our concerns and underlying cognitive and emotional processes. These shifts occur at times associated with major changes in neural activity and hormonal levels.
title_display	Diurnal variations of psychometric indicators in Twitter content

id	10.1371/journal.pone.0297312
publication_date	2024-04-10T00:00:00Z
abstract	Cybercrime is a major challenge facing the world, with estimated costs ranging from the hundreds of millions to the trillions. Despite the threat it poses, cybercrime is somewhat an invisible phenomenon. In carrying out their virtual attacks, offenders often mask their physical locations by hiding behind online nicknames and technical protections. This means technical data are not well suited to establishing the true location of offenders and scholarly knowledge of cybercrime geography is limited. This paper proposes a solution: an expert survey. From March to October 2021 we invited leading experts in cybercrime intelligence/investigations from across the world to participate in an anonymized online survey on the geographical location of cybercrime offenders. The survey asked participants to consider five major categories of cybercrime, nominate the countries that they consider to be the most significant sources of each of these types of cybercrimes, and then rank each nominated country according to the impact, professionalism, and technical skill of its offenders. The outcome of the survey is the World Cybercrime Index, a global metric of cybercriminality organised around five types of cybercrime. The results indicate that a relatively small number of countries house the greatest cybercriminal threats. These findings partially remove the veil of anonymity around cybercriminal offenders, may aid law enforcement and policymakers in fighting this threat, and contribute to the study of cybercrime as a local phenomenon.
title_display	Mapping the global geography of cybercrime with the World Cybercrime Index

id	10.1371/journal.pgen.1011003
publication_date	2024-03-28T00:00:00Z
abstract	The popularity of the ancient, probiotic-rich beverage Kombucha Tea (KT) has surged in part due to its purported health benefits, which include protection against metabolic diseases; however, these claims have not been rigorously tested and the mechanisms underlying host response to the probiotics in KT are unknown. Here, we establish a reproducible method to maintain C. elegans on a diet exclusively consisting of Kombucha Tea-associated microbes (KTM), which mirrors the microbial community found in the fermenting culture. KT microbes robustly colonize the gut of KTM-fed animals and confer normal development and fecundity. Intriguingly, animals consuming KTMs display a marked reduction in total lipid stores and lipid droplet size. We find that the reduced fat accumulation phenotype is not due to impaired nutrient absorption, but rather it is sustained by a programed metabolic response in the intestine of the host. KTM consumption triggers widespread transcriptional changes within core lipid metabolism pathways, including upregulation of a suite of lysosomal lipase genes that are induced during lipophagy. The elevated lysosomal lipase activity, coupled with a decrease in lipid droplet biogenesis, is partially required for the reduction in host lipid content. We propose that KTM consumption stimulates a fasting-like response in the C. elegans intestine by rewiring transcriptional programs to promote lipid utilization. Our results provide mechanistic insight into how the probiotics in Kombucha Tea reshape host metabolism and how this popular beverage may impact human metabolism. Author summary: Kombucha is a popular fermented tea that has been purported to have many human health benefits, including protection against metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity. These health benefits are thought to be conferred by the probiotic microbes found in Kombucha Tea, which includes both bacterial and yeast species, that may be able to colonize the human intestine and alter host physiology. The mechanisms by which the Kombucha Tea-associated probiotic microorganisms (KTMs) impact host physiology are largely unknown. Using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as an animal model system to study the host physiological response to KTMs, we show that KTMs colonize the C. elegans intestine and impart widespread changes in the expression of evolutionarily conserved lipid metabolism genes, resulting in reduced fat levels in the host. The host metabolic response to actively fermenting KTMs requires an increase in proteins that break down lipids paired with a reduction in a protein that builds triglycerides, which mirrors the events that occur during fasting. These findings are consistent with the reported human health benefits of Kombucha Tea and provide new insights into the host response to Kombucha-associated microbes, which could inform the use of Kombucha in complementary health care approaches in the future.
title_display	Kombucha Tea-associated microbes remodel host metabolic pathways to suppress lipid accumulation

id	10.1371/journal.pone.0203491
publication_date	2018-09-06T00:00:00Z
abstract	Loneliness is thought to serve as an adaptive signal indicating the need to repair or replace salutary social connections. Accordingly, loneliness may influence preferences for interpersonal distance. If loneliness simply motivates a desire to socially reconnect, then loneliness may be associated with a preference for smaller interpersonal distances. According to the evolutionary model of loneliness, however, loneliness also signals an inadequacy of mutual aid and protection, augmenting self-preservation motives. If loneliness both increases the motivation to reconnect and increases the motivation for self-protection, then the resulting approach-avoidance conflict should produce a preference for larger interpersonal distance, at least within intimate (i.e., proximal) space. Here, we report two survey-based studies of participants’ preferences for interpersonal distance to distinguish between these competing hypotheses. In Study 1 (N = 175), loneliness predicted preferences for larger interpersonal distance within intimate space net gender, objective social isolation, anxiety, depressive symptomatology, and marital status. In Study 2 (N = 405), we replicated these results, and mediation analyses indicated that measures of social closeness could not adequately explain our findings. These studies provide compelling evidence that loneliness predicts preferences for larger interpersonal distance within intimate space, consistent with predictions from the evolutionary model of loneliness.
title_display	Loneliness predicts a preference for larger interpersonal distance within intimate space

id	10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124
publication_date	2005-08-30T00:00:00Z
abstract	Summary: There is increasing concern that most current published research findings are false. The probability that a research claim is true may depend on study power and bias, the number of other studies on the same question, and, importantly, the ratio of true to no relationships among the relationships probed in each scientific field. In this framework, a research finding is less likely to be true when the studies conducted in a field are smaller; when effect sizes are smaller; when there is a greater number and lesser preselection of tested relationships; where there is greater flexibility in designs, definitions, outcomes, and analytical modes; when there is greater financial and other interest and prejudice; and when more teams are involved in a scientific field in chase of statistical significance. Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true. Moreover, for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. In this essay, I discuss the implications of these problems for the conduct and interpretation of research. Published research findings are sometimes refuted by subsequent evidence, says Ioannidis, with ensuing confusion and disappointment.
title_display	Why Most Published Research Findings Are False

id	10.1371/journal.pone.0300245
publication_date	2024-04-03T00:00:00Z
abstract	Recent labor market transformations brought on by digital and technological advances, together with the rise of the service economy since the 1980s, have subjected more workers to precarious conditions, such as irregular work hours and low or unpredictable wages, threatening their economic well-being and health. This study advances our understanding of the critical role employment plays in our health by examining how employment patterns throughout our working lives, based on work schedules, may shape our health at age 50, paying particular attention to the moderating role of social position. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1979 (NLSY79), which has collected 30+ years of longitudinal information, was used to examine how employment patterns starting at ages 22 (n ≈ 7,336) might be associated with sleep hours and quality, physical and mental functions, and the likelihood of reporting poor health and depressive symptoms at age 50. Sequence analysis found five dominant employment patterns between ages 22 and 49: “mostly not working” (10%), “early standard hours before transitioning into mostly variable hours” (12%), “early standard hours before transitioning into volatile schedules” (early ST-volatile, 17%), “mostly standard hours with some variable hours” (35%), and “stable standard hours” (26%). The multiple regression analyses indicate that having the “early ST-volatile” schedule pattern between ages 22 and 49 was consistently, significantly associated with the poorest health, including the fewest hours of sleep per day, the lowest sleep quality, the lowest physical and mental functions, and the highest likelihood of reporting poor health and depressive symptoms at age 50. In addition, social position plays a significant role in these adverse health consequences. For example, whereas non-Hispanic White women reported the most hours of sleep and non-Hispanic Black men reported the fewest, the opposite was true for sleep quality. In addition, non-Hispanic Black men with less than a high school education had the highest likelihood of reporting poor health at age 50 if they engaged in an employment pattern of “early ST-volatile” between ages 22 and 49. In comparison, non-Hispanic White men with a college degree or above education had the lowest likelihood of reporting poor health if they engaged in an employment pattern of stable standard hours. This analysis underscores the critical role of employment patterns in shaping our daily routines, which matter to sleep and physical and mental health as we approach middle adulthood. Notably, the groups with relatively disadvantaged social positions are also likely to be subject to nonstandard work schedules, including non-Hispanic Blacks and people with low education; hence, they were more likely than others to shoulder the harmful links between nonstandard work schedules and sleep and health, worsening their probability of maintaining and nurturing their health as they approach middle adulthood.
title_display	How our longitudinal employment patterns might shape our health as we approach middle adulthood—US NLSY79 cohort