MyMedR

Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 41 in total

Abstract:

Sort:

Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals

Krys K, -Melanie Vauclair C, Capaldi CA, Lun VM, Bond MH, Domínguez-Espinosa A, et al.

Journal of nonverbal behavior, 2015 12 30;40:101-116.
PMID: 27194817

Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones-they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than the same non-smiling individual in cultures low on the GLOBE's uncertainty avoidance dimension. Furthermore, we show that corruption at the societal level may undermine the prosocial perception of smiling-in societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals is reduced. This research fosters understanding of the cultural framework surrounding nonverbal communication processes and reveals that in some cultures smiling may lead to negative attributions.
Corrigendum: The Associations of Dyadic Coping and Relationship Satisfaction Vary between and within Nations: A 35-Nation Study

Hilpert P, Randall AK, Sorokowski P, Atkins DC, Sorokowska A, Ahmadi K, et al.

Front Psychol, 2016;7:1404.
PMID: 27698648

[This corrects the article on p. 1106 in vol. 7, PMID: 27551269.].
Fulltext The Associations of Dyadic Coping and Relationship Satisfaction Vary between and within Nations: A 35-Nation Study

Hilpert P, Randall AK, Sorokowski P, Atkins DC, Sorokowska A, Ahmadi K, et al.

Front Psychol, 2016;7:1106.
PMID: 27551269 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01106

OBJECTIVE: Theories about how couples help each other to cope with stress, such as the systemic transactional model of dyadic coping, suggest that the cultural context in which couples live influences how their coping behavior affects their relationship satisfaction. In contrast to the theoretical assumptions, a recent meta-analysis provides evidence that neither culture, nor gender, influences the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction, at least based on their samples of couples living in North America and West Europe. Thus, it is an open questions whether the theoretical assumptions of cultural influences are false or whether cultural influences on couple behavior just occur in cultures outside of the Western world.
METHOD: In order to examine the cultural influence, using a sample of married individuals (N = 7973) from 35 nations, we used multilevel modeling to test whether the positive association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies across nations and whether gender might moderate the association.
RESULTS: RESULTS reveal that the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies between nations. In addition, results show that in some nations the association is higher for men and in other nations it is higher for women.
CONCLUSIONS: Cultural and gender differences across the globe influence how couples' coping behavior affects relationship outcomes. This crucial finding indicates that couple relationship education programs and interventions need to be culturally adapted, as skill trainings such as dyadic coping lead to differential effects on relationship satisfaction based on the culture in which couples live.
Fulltext Erratum: pH Sensitive Hydrogels in Drug Delivery: Brief History, Properties, Swelling, and Release Mechanism, Material Selection and Applications. Polymers 2017, 9, 137

Rizwan M, Yahya R, Hassan A, Yar M, Azzahari AD, Selvanathan V, et al.

Polymers (Basel), 2017 06 14;9(6).
PMID: 30970902 DOI: 10.3390/polym9060225

The authors wish to make a change to their published paper [1]. [...].
Bioglass® 45S5-based composites for bone tissue engineering and functional applications

Rizwan M, Hamdi M, Basirun WJ

J Biomed Mater Res A, 2017 Nov;105(11):3197-3223.
PMID: 28686004 DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.36156

Bioglass® 45S5 (BG) has an outstanding ability to bond with bones and soft tissues, but its application as a load-bearing scaffold material is restricted due to its inherent brittleness. BG-based composites combine the amazing biological and bioactive characteristics of BG with structural and functional features of other materials. This article reviews the composites of Bioglass® in combination with metals, ceramics and polymers for a wide range of potential applications from bone scaffolds to nerve regeneration. Bioglass® also possesses angiogenic and antibacterial properties in addition to its very high bioactivity; hence, composite materials developed for these applications are also discussed. BG-based composites with polymer matrices have been developed for a wide variety of soft tissue engineering. This review focuses on the research that suggests the suitability of BG-based composites as a scaffold material for hard and soft tissues engineering. Composite production techniques have a direct influence on the bioactivity and mechanical behavior of scaffolds. A detailed discussion of the bioactivity, in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility and biodegradation is presented as a function of materials and its processing techniques. Finally, an outlook for future research is also proposed. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 3197-3223, 2017.
Fulltext Corrigendum: Marital Satisfaction, Sex, Age, Marriage Duration, Religion, Number of Children, Economic Status, Education, and Collectivistic Values: Data from 33 Countries

Sorokowski P, Randall AK, Groyecka A, Frackowiak T, Cantarero K, Hilpert P, et al.

Front Psychol, 2017;8:1728.
PMID: 29021774 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01728

[This corrects the article on p. 1199 in vol. 8, PMID: 28785230.].
Fulltext Marital Satisfaction, Sex, Age, Marriage Duration, Religion, Number of Children, Economic Status, Education, and Collectivistic Values: Data from 33 Countries

Sorokowski P, Randall AK, Groyecka A, Frackowiak T, Cantarero K, Hilpert P, et al.

Front Psychol, 2017;8:1199.
PMID: 28785230 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01199
Surface modification of valve metals using plasma electrolytic oxidation for antibacterial applications: A review

Rizwan M, Alias R, Zaidi UZ, Mahmoodian R, Hamdi M

J Biomed Mater Res A, 2018 02;106(2):590-605.
PMID: 28975693 DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.36259

Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) is an advance technique to develop porous oxidation layer on light metals, primarily to enhance corrosion and wear resistance. The oxidation layer can also offer a wide variety of mechanical, biomedical, tribological, and antibacterial properties through the incorporation of several ions and particles. Due to the increasing need of antimicrobial surfaces for biomedical implants, antibacterial PEO coatings have been developed through the incorporation of antibacterial agents. Metallic nanoparticles that have been employed most widely as antibacterial agents are reported to demonstrate serious health and environmental threats. To overcome the current limitations of these coatings, there is a significant need to develop antibacterial surfaces that are not harmful for patient's health and environment. Attention of the readers has been directed to utilize bioactive glasses as antibacterial agents for PEO coatings. Bioactive glasses are well known for their excellent bioactivity, biocompatibility, and antibacterial character. PEO coatings incorporated with bioactive glasses can provide environment-friendly antimicrobial surfaces with exceptional bioactivity, biocompatibility, and osseointegration. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 590-605, 2018.
Global Study of Social Odor Awareness

Sorokowska A, Groyecka A, Karwowski M, Frackowiak T, Lansford JE, Ahmadi K, et al.

Chem. Senses, 2018 08 24;43(7):503-513.
PMID: 29955865 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjy038

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. Here, we conducted a large-scale analysis of data collected from 10 794 participants from 52 study sites from 44 countries all over the world. The aim of our research was to explore the potential individual and country-level correlates of odor awareness in the social context. The results show that the individual characteristics were more strongly related than country-level factors to self-reported odor awareness in different social contexts. A model including individual-level predictors (gender, age, material situation, education, and preferred social distance) provided a relatively good fit to the data, but adding country-level predictors (Human Development Index, population density, and average temperature) did not improve model parameters. Although there were some cross-cultural differences in social odor awareness, the main differentiating role was played by the individual differences. This suggests that people living in different cultures and different climate conditions may still share some similar patterns of odor awareness if they share other individual-level characteristics.
Catching up with wonderful women: The women-are-wonderful effect is smaller in more gender egalitarian societies

Krys K, Capaldi CA, van Tilburg W, Lipp OV, Bond MH, Vauclair CM, et al.

Int J Psychol, 2018 Oct;53 Suppl 1:21-26.
PMID: 28295294 DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12420

Inequalities between men and women are common and well-documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies-there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women-are-wonderful effect-that women are evaluated more positively than men overall-is also common. Cross-cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self-reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women-are-wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women.
Natural and synthetic estrogens in leafy vegetable and their risk associated to human health

Adeel M, Zain M, Fahad S, Rizwan M, Ameen A, Yi H, et al.

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2018 Dec;25(36):36712-36723.
PMID: 30377972 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-018-3588-4

Since the inception of global industrialization, the growth of steroid estrogens becomes a matter of emerging serious concern for the rapid population. Steroidal estrogens are potent endocrine-upsetting chemicals that are excreted naturally by vertebrates (e.g., humans and fish) and can enter natural waters through the discharge of treated and raw sewage. Steroidal estrogens in plants may enter the food web and become a serious threat to human health. We evaluated the uptake and accumulation of ethinylestradiol (EE2) and 17β-estradiol (17β-E2) in lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa) grown under controlled environmental condition over 21 days growth period. An effective analytical method based on ultrasonic liquid extraction (ULE) for solid samples and solid phase extraction (SPE) for liquid samples with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) has been developed to determine the steroid estrogens in lettuce plants. The extent of uptake and accumulation was observed in a dose-dependent manner and roots were major organs for estrogen deposition. Unlike the 17β-E2, EE2 was less accumulated and translocated from root to leaves. For 17β-E2, the distribution in lettuce was primarily to roots after the second week (13%), whereas in leaves it was (10%) over the entire study period. The distribution of EE2 at 2000 μg L-1 in roots and leaves was very low (3.07% and 0.54%) during the first week and then was highest (12% in roots and 8% in leaves) in last week. Bioaccumulation factor values of 17β-E2 and EE2 in roots were 0.33 and 0.29 at 50 μg L-1 concentration as maximum values were found at 50 μg L-1 rather than 500 and 2000 in all observed plant tissues. Similar trend was noticed in roots than leaves for bioconcentration factor as the highest bioconcentration values were observed at 50 μg L-1 concentration instead of 500 and 2000 μg L-1 spiked concentration. These findings mainly indicate the potential for uptake and bioaccumulation of estrogens in lettuce plants. Overall, the estrogen contents in lettuce were compared to the FAO/WHO recommended toxic level and were found to be higher than the toxic level which is of serious concern to the public health. This analytical procedure may aid in future studies on risks associated with uptake of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in lettuce plants.
Fulltext Cryptic footprints of rare earth elements on natural resources and living organisms

Adeel M, Lee JY, Zain M, Rizwan M, Nawab A, Ahmad MA, et al.

Environ Int, 2019 06;127:785-800.
PMID: 31039528 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.03.022

BACKGROUND: Rare earth elements (REEs) are gaining attention due to rapid rise of modern industries and technological developments in their usage and residual fingerprinting. Cryptic entry of REEs in the natural resources and environment is significant; therefore, life on earth is prone to their nasty effects. Scientific sectors have expressed concerns over the entry of REEs into food chains, which ultimately influences their intake and metabolism in the living organisms.
OBJECTIVES: Extensive scientific collections and intensive look in to the latest explorations agglomerated in this document aim to depict the distribution of REEs in soil, sediments, surface waters and groundwater possibly around the globe. Furthermore, it draws attention towards potential risks of intensive industrialization and modern agriculture to the exposure of REEs, and their effects on living organisms. It also draws links of REEs usage and their footprints in natural resources with the major food chains involving plants, animals and humans.
METHODS: Scientific literature preferably spanning over the last five years was obtained online from the MEDLINE and other sources publishing the latest studies on REEs distribution, properties, usage, cycling and intrusion in the environment and food-chains. Distribution of REEs in agricultural soils, sediments, surface and ground water was drawn on the global map, together with transport pathways of REEs and their cycling in the natural resources.
RESULTS: Fourteen REEs (Ce, Dy, Er, Eu, Gd, Ho, La, Lu, Nd, Pr, Sm, Tb, Th and Yb) were plighted in this study. Wide range of their concentrations has been detected in agricultural soils (<15.9-249.1 μg g-1) and in groundwater (<3.1-146.2 μg L-1) at various sites worldwide. They have strong tendency to accumulate in the human body, and thus associated with kidney stones. The REEs could also perturb the animal physiology, especially affecting the reproductive development in both terrestrial and aquatic animals. In plants, REEs might affect the germination, root and shoot development and flowering at concentration ranging from 0.4 to 150 mg kg-1.
CONCLUSIONS: This review article precisely narrates the current status, sources, and potential effects of REEs on plants, animals, humans health. There are also a few examples where REEs have been used to benefit human health. However, still there is scarce information about threshold levels of REEs in the soil, aquatic, and terrestrial resources as well as living entities. Therefore, an aggressive effort is required for global action to generate more data on REEs. This implies we prescribe an urgent need for inter-disciplinary studies about REEs in order to identify their toxic effects on both ecosystems and organisms.
Novel chitosan derivative based composite scaffolds with enhanced angiogenesis; potential candidates for healing chronic non-healing wounds

Rizwan M, Yahya R, Hassan A, Yar M, Abd Halim AA, Rageh Al-Maleki A, et al.

J Mater Sci Mater Med, 2019 Jun 11;30(6):72.
PMID: 31187295 DOI: 10.1007/s10856-019-6273-3

The success of wound healing depends upon the proper growth of vascular system in time in the damaged tissues. Poor blood supply to wounded tissues or tissue engineered grafts leads to the failure of wound healing or rejection of grafts. In present paper, we report the synthesis of novel organosoluble and pro-angiogenic chitosan derivative (CSD) by the reaction of chitosan with 1,3-dimethylbarbituric acid and triethylorthoformate (TEOF). The synthesized material was characterized by FTIR and 13C-NMR to confirm the incorporated functional groups and new covalent connectivities. Biodegradability of the synthesized chitosan derivative was tested in the presence of lysozyme and was found to be comparable with CS. The cytotoxicity and apoptosis effect of new derivative was determined against gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) cells and was found to be non-toxic. The CSD was found to be soluble in majority of organic solvents. It was blended with polycaprolactone (PCL) to form composite scaffolds. From an ex ovo CAM assay, it was noted that CSD stimulated the angiogenesis.
Fulltext Contrasting Computational Models of Mate Preference Integration Across 45 Countries

Conroy-Beam D, Buss DM, Asao K, Sorokowska A, Sorokowski P, Aavik T, et al.

Sci Rep, 2019 11 15;9(1):16885.
PMID: 31729413 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-52748-8

Humans express a wide array of ideal mate preferences. Around the world, people desire romantic partners who are intelligent, healthy, kind, physically attractive, wealthy, and more. In order for these ideal preferences to guide the choice of actual romantic partners, human mating psychology must possess a means to integrate information across these many preference dimensions into summaries of the overall mate value of their potential mates. Here we explore the computational design of this mate preference integration process using a large sample of n = 14,487 people from 45 countries around the world. We combine this large cross-cultural sample with agent-based models to compare eight hypothesized models of human mating markets. Across cultures, people higher in mate value appear to experience greater power of choice on the mating market in that they set higher ideal standards, better fulfill their preferences in choice, and pair with higher mate value partners. Furthermore, we find that this cross-culturally universal pattern of mate choice is most consistent with a Euclidean model of mate preference integration.
Sex Differences in Mate Preferences Across 45 Countries: A Large-Scale Replication

Walter KV, Conroy-Beam D, Buss DM, Asao K, Sorokowska A, Sorokowski P, et al.

Psychol Sci, 2020 Apr;31(4):408-423.
PMID: 32196435 DOI: 10.1177/0956797620904154

Considerable research has examined human mate preferences across cultures, finding universal sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and resources as well as sources of systematic cultural variation. Two competing perspectives-an evolutionary psychological perspective and a biosocial role perspective-offer alternative explanations for these findings. However, the original data on which each perspective relies are decades old, and the literature is fraught with conflicting methods, analyses, results, and conclusions. Using a new 45-country sample (N = 14,399), we attempted to replicate classic studies and test both the evolutionary and biosocial role perspectives. Support for universal sex differences in preferences remains robust: Men, more than women, prefer attractive, young mates, and women, more than men, prefer older mates with financial prospects. Cross-culturally, both sexes have mates closer to their own ages as gender equality increases. Beyond age of partner, neither pathogen prevalence nor gender equality robustly predicted sex differences or preferences across countries.
Fulltext An Innovative Multi-Model Neural Network Approach for Feature Selection in Emotion Recognition Using Deep Feature Clustering

Asghar MA, Khan MJ, Rizwan M, Mehmood RM, Kim SH

Sensors (Basel), 2020 Jul 05;20(13).
PMID: 32635609 DOI: 10.3390/s20133765

Emotional awareness perception is a largely growing field that allows for more natural interactions between people and machines. Electroencephalography (EEG) has emerged as a convenient way to measure and track a user's emotional state. The non-linear characteristic of the EEG signal produces a high-dimensional feature vector resulting in high computational cost. In this paper, characteristics of multiple neural networks are combined using Deep Feature Clustering (DFC) to select high-quality attributes as opposed to traditional feature selection methods. The DFC method shortens the training time on the network by omitting unusable attributes. First, Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is applied as a series of frequencies to decompose the raw EEG signal. The spatiotemporal component of the decomposed EEG signal is expressed as a two-dimensional spectrogram before the feature extraction process using Analytic Wavelet Transform (AWT). Four pre-trained Deep Neural Networks (DNN) are used to extract deep features. Dimensional reduction and feature selection are achieved utilising the differential entropy-based EEG channel selection and the DFC technique, which calculates a range of vocabularies using k-means clustering. The histogram characteristic is then determined from a series of visual vocabulary items. The classification performance of the SEED, DEAP and MAHNOB datasets combined with the capabilities of DFC show that the proposed method improves the performance of emotion recognition in short processing time and is more competitive than the latest emotion recognition methods.
Fulltext Reasons for Facebook Usage: Data From 46 Countries

Kowal M, Sorokowski P, Sorokowska A, Dobrowolska M, Pisanski K, Oleszkiewicz A, et al.

Front Psychol, 2020;11:711.
PMID: 32425849 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00711
Fulltext Monitoring Bioaccumulation (in Gills and Muscle Tissues), Hematology, and Genotoxic Alteration in Ctenopharyngodon idella Exposed to Selected Heavy Metals

Shah N, Khan A, Ali R, Marimuthu K, Uddin MN, Rizwan M, et al.

Biomed Res Int, 2020;2020:6185231.
PMID: 32382561 DOI: 10.1155/2020/6185231

Health and environmental problems arising from metals present in the aquatic ecosystem are very well known. The present study investigated toxicological effects of LC15 of metals such as copper, chromium, and lead for 24, 48, 72, and 96 h on hematological indices, RBC nucleus and cell morphology, and gill and muscle tissues of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Experimental dose concentrations of copper were 1.5, 1.4, 1.2, and 1 mgL-1. Similarly, dose concentrations of chromium were 25.5, 22.5, 20, and 18 mgL-1 while those of lead were 250, 235, 225, and 216 mgL-1, respectively. Maximum decrease in the concentration of Hb, RBCs, and monocytes was observed against chromium, while maximum increase in the concentration of lymphocytes was reported against lead. Abnormalities such as single and double micronuclei, deformed nucleus, nuclear shift, irregular nucleus, deformed cells, microcyte cells, and vacuolated and swollen cells were observed. Gill tissues absorbed maximum concentration of lead followed by chromium and copper. Muscle tissues also absorbed maximum concentration of lead followed by chromium and copper, respectively. Histological alterations such as epithelial lifting, interlamellar spaces, club gill filaments, gill bridging, curling filaments, swelling and fusion of cells, irregular cells, destruction of epithelial cells, cellular necrosis, and inflammatory cells were observed in gill tissues while inflammation and necrosis of muscle fibers, degeneration of muscle fibers, edema of muscle bundles, zig-zag of muscle fibers, and lesions were observed in muscle tissues of fish exposed with different doses of these heavy metals, indicating the toxicity of metals to aquatic fauna as well as to human being via food chain.
Universality of the Triangular Theory of Love: Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Triangular Love Scale in 25 Countries

Sorokowski P, Sorokowska A, Karwowski M, Groyecka A, Aavik T, Akello G, et al.

J Sex Res, 2021 01;58(1):106-115.
PMID: 32783568 DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2020.1787318

The Triangular Theory of Love (measured with Sternberg's Triangular Love Scale - STLS) is a prominent theoretical concept in empirical research on love. To expand the culturally homogeneous body of previous psychometric research regarding the STLS, we conducted a large-scale cross-cultural study with the use of this scale. In total, we examined more than 11,000 respondents, but as a result of applied exclusion criteria, the final analyses were based on a sample of 7332 participants from 25 countries (from all inhabited continents). We tested configural invariance, metric invariance, and scalar invariance, all of which confirmed the cultural universality of the theoretical construct of love analyzed in our study. We also observed that levels of love components differ depending on relationship duration, following the dynamics suggested in the Triangular Theory of Love. Supplementary files with all our data, including results on love intensity across different countries along with STLS versions adapted in a few dozen languages, will further enable more extensive research on the Triangular Theory of Love.
Fulltext Synthesis, characterization and advanced sustainable applications of titanium dioxide nanoparticles: A review

Irshad MA, Nawaz R, Rehman MZU, Adrees M, Rizwan M, Ali S, et al.

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf, 2021 Apr 01;212:111978.
PMID: 33561774 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.111978

Nanotechnology is capturing great interest worldwide due to their stirring applications in various fields. Among nanoparticles (NPs), titanium dioxide (TiO2) NPs have been widely used in daily life and can be synthesized through various physical, chemical, and green methods. Green synthesis is a non-toxic, cost-effective, and eco-friendly route for the synthesis of NPs. Plenty of work has been reported on the green, chemical, physical and biological synthesis of TiO2 NPs and these NPs can be characterized through high tech. instruments. In the present review, dense data have been presented on the comparative synthesis of TiO2 NPs with different characteristics and their wide range of applications. Among the TiO2 NPs synthesis techniques, the green methods have been proven to be efficient than chemical synthesis methods because of the less use of precursors, time-effectiveness, and energy-efficiency during the green synthesis procedures. Moreover, this review describes the types of plants (shrubs, herbs and trees), microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and algae), biological derivatives (proteins, peptides, and starches) employed for the synthesis of TiO2 NPs. The TiO2 NPs can be effectively used for the treatment of polluted water and positively affected the plant physiology especially under abiotic stresses but the response varied with types, size, shapes, doses, duration of exposure, metal species along with other factors. This review also highlights the regulating features and future standpoints for the measurable enrichment in TiO2 NPs product and perspectives of TiO2 NPs reliable application.

Filters

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links