Global Study of Social Odor Awareness.

Olfaction plays an important role in human social communication, including multiple domains in which people often rely on their sense of smell in the social context. The importance of the sense of smell and its role can however vary inter-individually and culturally. Despite the growing body of literature on differences in olfactory performance or hedonic preferences across the globe, the aspects of a given culture as well as culturally universal individual differences affecting odor awareness in human social life remain unknown.

Mental health symptom severity in cannabis using and non-using Veterans with probable PTSD.

Background: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a disabling illness suffered by many Veterans returning from war. Some Veterans believe that cannabis may be therapeutic for PTSD. The purpose of this study was to better understand the association between cannabis use and PTSD symptoms.

Responsivity to two odorants, androstenone and amyl acetate, and the affective impact of odors on interpersonal relationships.

Substantial variation exists in the importance of olfaction in influencing individuals' preferences, yet the sources of this variation remain elusive. The authors explored responsivity to 2 odorants as 1 potential source. Participants (N = 258) completed the Affective Impact of Odor Scale and were assessed for responsivity to the putative human pheromone androstenone and amyl acetate.

The effect of aerial parts of Echinacea on the circulating white cell levels and selected immune functions of the aging male Sprague-Dawley rat.

Echinacea is one of the most widely used over-the-counter herbal preparations that purport to "improve immune system function", especially when taken as a short course of therapy (6-8 weeks). Since many purchasers are older individuals, a double-blind, placebo-controlled study was performed to investigate whether Echinacea could affect total and differential white cell counts, phagocytic activity and interleukin (IL-2) levels in 12-month-old, healthy, male Sprague-Dawley rats when administered over an 8-week period. Echinacea (50 mg/kg of aerial parts) mixed with peanut butter or peanut butter alone was fed to 16 rats, which were receiving regular food and water ad libitum.

Copulatory patterns of primates as viewed in broad mammalian perspective.

The goals of this review are to classify the patterns of copulatory behavior displayed by various species of primates, to compare them to the patterns of nonprimate mammalian species, and to search for correlates of the various patterns. Copulatory patterns are classified in relation to the presence or absence of four defining attributes: a lock, thrusting during intromissions, multiple intromissions, and multiple ejaculations. Literature on copulation in 67 primate species is reviewed, and a tentative classification is proposed for 33 primate species.