Charles R. Geist

Effects of chronic kombucha ingestion on open-field behaviors, longevity, appetitive behaviors, and organs in c57-bl/6 mice: a pilot study

Kombucha is a lightly fermented tea beverage popularly consumed as a self-prescribed folk-remedy for numerous ailments. Kombucha is claimed to enhance cognition, aid weight loss, and prolong life. This pilot study reports longevity, general health, and open-field exploratory behavioral outcomes from a 3-y longitudinal study of 64 C57-BL/6 mice (males and females), half of which chronically drank kombucha, and all of which experienced natural mortality. Compared by MANOVA to controls, mice that drank kombucha showed greater vertical exploration (P = 0.001) and a sex-interactive effect in novel object manipulation (P = 0.049). MANOVA of kombucha-drinking mice compared to controls detected differences in appetitive behaviors (food consumption, P < 0.001; beverage consumption, P = 0. 008), and gross body weight (P < 0.001). Appetitive behaviors changed with the addition of voluntary exercise on a running wheel, with differing patterns of change noted for males and females. Both male and female mice who drank kombucha lived longer than controls (P < 0.001), with the greatest variability among the male mice (sex interactive effect, P < 0.001). Comparable effects and mechanisms in humans remain uncertain, as do health safety issues, because serious health problems and fatalities have been reported and attributed to drinking kombucha.

Lavender Aromatherapy in Recovery from Exercise

20 men were randomly assigned to a control or an experimental group. After baseline screening, all subjects performed moderate physical exercise for 2 min., then rested for 10 min., during which the experimental group was exposed to lavender aromatherapy. Recovery measures included diastolic and systolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, pulse pressure, and heart rate. As the mean difference in diastolic blood pressure fell just short of statistical significance, further study with larger groups is required.

Social Avoidance and Distress as a Predictor of Perceived Locus of Control and Level of Self-Esteem.

Proposed the degree of social discomfort to be indicative of an individuals perceived locus of control and level of self-esteem. Introductory psychology students (N = 143) at the University of Alaska completed questionnaires for Social Avoidance and Distress (SAD), Rotters Internal versus External Control of Reinforcement Scale, and Janis-Field Personality Inventory. There were significant differences in locus of control and level of self-esteem among those Ss rated as high SAD, moderate SAD, and low SAD. High SAD Ss were found to have significantly greater external locus of control and lower self-esteem than either the moderate or low SAD Ss. Individuals who experience social anxiety, as opposed to those who are comfortable in social situations, are likely to feel that they have less control over the rewards in life and experience less positive self-regard.

Effect of exposure to photographs of thin models on self-consciousness in female college students.

The purpose of this study was to assess the immediate influence of brief exposure to images taken from print media on the general self-consciousness and body self-consciousness of 67 college women. After viewing photographs of either thin female models or control photographs, the women completed the Self-consciousness Scale and the Body Self-consciousness Questionnaire. Although α was .45, the college women who looked at images of thin female models gave immediate ratings significantly (p < .001) higher on both general Self-consciousness and Body Self-consciousness than those who looked at control images.

A comparison of the psychological characteristics of smokers, ex-smokers, and nonsmokers

The present investigation was designed to ascertain differences among smokers (n = 51), ex-smokers (n = 46), and nonsmokers (n = 138) in self-control and needs for affiliation, order, and endurance. Ex-smokers were found to have significantly greater self-control, as well as considerably higher needs for order and endurance, than smokers or nonsmokers, and a markedly greater need for affiliation than smokers. Furthermore, nonsmokers exhibited significantly more self-control than smokers. It was concluded that ex-smokers, rather than being intermediate between smokers and nonsmokers, comprised a distinct group on the scales examined.

Locus of Control and Religious Affiliation

To ascertain the relationship between locus of control and religion, 83 subjects from introductory psychology courses were given the Rotter I-E scale and a questionnaire identifying religious affiliation. Analysis indicated greater externality for Catholics than for the Protestants.

Behavioral effects following rehabilitation from postnatal exposure to lead acetate

At 21 days of age three groups of male hooded rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain were exposed to either untreated water or lead acetate at concentrations of 25 or 50 ppm provided ad lib. in the drinking water for 40 days. When tested for spontaneous alternation, the subjects receiving both 50 ppm and 25 ppm lead acetate exhibited significantly reduced rates of alternation below those of uncreated control subjects. Immediately subsequent to testing, lead was removed from the diet of the experimental groups and water substituted which was provided ad lib. for the duration of the experiment. This regimen of rehabilitation was continued for 70 days at which time all subjects were tested on the problems of the Hebb-Williams closed-field maze-learning task. No significant differences were found in the time taken to traverse the maze enclosure, the number of squares traversed, or in the total number of error zones entered over the 12 test problems, although significantly increased latencies to leave the start box were noted for subjects previously exposed to lead acetate. These data indicate that some deficits produced by postweaning lead acetate exposure may be reversible and not persist beyond a period of rehabilitation.

PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF ARMY HELICOPTER PILOTS

The personality characteristics of 15 male Army helicopter pilots were ascertained by means of the MMPI and compared to those of 16 male nonpilot Army Officers. The pilots manifested more pathology than nonpilots for the significant data, as evidenced by significantly higher scores on the Hypochondriasis, Depression, Hysteria, Psychasthenia, and Social Introversion-Extroversion scales.

Behavioral effects of postnatal lead acetate exposure in developing laboratory rats

At 23 days of age, three groups of male albino Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to lead at concentrations of 0, 25, or 50 ppm, provided ad lib, in the acetate form, for 35 days in the drinking water. When tested on the problems of the Hebb-Williams closed-field maze learning task, the subjects receiving both 50 ppm lead acetate and 25 ppm lead acetate displayed significantly impaired learning ability when compared to water-fed controls in the total number of error zones entered over the 12 test problems. The time taken to traverse the maze enclosure, however, was significantly reduced only in the group receiving 50 ppm lead acetate. None of the overt manifestations characteristic of lead poisoning were observed. Learning deficits can be produced in the weanling rat at levels of exposure similar to those which cause encephalopathy in the developing neonate.

Behavioral Deficiencies in Protein-Deprived Monkeys

It is a well documented fact that large numbers of people in the world, predominantly children in underdeveloped countries, suffer from protein-calorie malnutrition (Behar, L968; Coursin, 1965). Some of the major investigations conducted with human beings suggest that malnutrition experienced early in life may produce a permanent alteration of the phenotypic expression of the normal intellectual and social development of the child (Cravioto and Robles, 1963, 1965; Stoch and Smythe, 1963). Studies concerning severe protein-calorie malnutrition reveal profound behavioral deficiencies in children who suffer such a nutritional deficit before they are six months of age (Brockman and Ricciuti, 1971; Pollitt, 1972). Cravioto and Robles (1965) have reported deficiencies in adaptive behavior, interpersonal social abilities, language acquisition, and motor skills. It is apparent, then, that children with a history of protein-calorie malnutrition exhibit deficits in a variety of developmental tasks when compared to adequately nourished children.