Sensory attributes of craved and aversive foods in healthy women.

This article is an edited version of a paper presented at the Sigma Theta International Nursing Research Congress in Madrid, Spain on June 22, 1993. It explores sensory characteristics of craved and aversive foods in healthy women. Typically, cravings characterised as intermittents, sweet-tasting and pleasant-smelling. Aversions continuous, bad-tasting and unpleasant-smelling. Women reporting aversions tend to it less body mass than women without aversions: p < 0.06. The data suggest that craved aversive foods may exert unequal effects and that sensory characteristics may provide cues the formation of cravings and aversions. These early findings guide health-care practitioner in helping individuals to improve their nutritional intake.

Major influences on maternal responsiveness to infants.

Thirty healthy, middle-class mothers were interviewed during their postpartum hospital stay to identify major influences on mothers' responses to their infants. Sullivan's theorem of tenderness served as a guide for exploring maternal responsiveness. Three major categories, infant tenderness needs, maternal perception, and maternal needs, and their related properties, were described. Support persons were viewed as very important. Mothers also believed that some infant needs were more important than others. Finally, mothers felt that they were constantly faced with priorities, and that the emotional state of the mother and infant often influenced their interaction.

Endogenous opioids and hypogonadism in human obesity.

Massively obese males often show symptoms of hypogonadism, but the mechanism for this is unclear. Increased endogenous opioid inhibition of the hypothalamic GnRH pulse generator resulting in insufficient stimulation of the pituitary gonadotroph has been proposed as a possible mechanism. If this hypothesis is correct, obese males should be more sensitive to the LH-elevating effects of the opiate antagonist, naloxone, than men of normal weight and gonadal status. This study investigated the etiology of obesity-related hypogonadism by examining luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) responses to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and to infusions of saline or naloxone. Subjects were five obese (201 +/- 14% IBW) and five normal weight (control) (97 +/- 4% IBW) males. Before treatment, obese males had significantly (p < 0.05) lower testosterone levels than control subjects (307 +/- 72 vs. 597 +/- 49 ng/dl), whereas estradiol, androstenedione, and dehydroepiandrosterone levels were not different between the two groups. Both groups showed equivalent elevations in LH (fourfold to sixfold) in response to GnRH stimulation, but obese patients had significantly lower basal (p < 0.05) and GnRH-stimulated (p < 0.01) FSH levels. Infusions of naloxone (but not saline) led to significant (p < 0.01) increases in LH above preinfusion baseline levels (20.5 +/- 2.8% in obese and 28.6 +/- 6.3% in controls). In control subjects, integrated LH levels during naloxone infusion were not significantly elevated above those found during saline infusion, while obese subjects exhibited a 43% augmentation of integrated LH (31.0 +/- 5.3 ng/ml during naloxone vs. 21.7 +/- 1.8 ng/ml during saline, p < 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Postdoctoral study in a multidisciplinary research center: an alternative to more traditional nurse fellowships.

This article examines postdoctoral study in a multidisciplinary research setting. The author describes the offerings of one particular multidisciplinary center, the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of a fellowship in such a setting. The relevance of this option for nursing is discussed.

Sugar and spice: similarities and sensory attributes.

Spices were selected for study that were believed to exhibit properties related to the sweetness commonly found in foods and beverages. Seventy healthy, normal-weight adults first smelled and then tasted 10 spices. Subjects responded to two questionnaires, judging similarity of the spices and indicating the sensory attributes important in their decision making. Intensity of odor, compatibility with sweetness, and degree of bitter taste were three major attributes used to arrive at similarity judgments. Overall, vanilla was found to be most similar to sugar. When examined further for compatibility with sweetness, cinnamon, vanilla, spearmint, and anise were generally found to be more comparable to sugar than nutmeg, ginger, cloves, bay, and salt. Nonwhite subjects, as opposed to white subjects, attributed greater sweetness to nutmeg and less sweetness to anise. The data suggest that certain spices exhibit sweet properties and may provide a healthful strategy for reducing sugar intake.

Relating mothers' anxiety and perception to infant satiety, anxiety, and feeding behavior.

The purpose of this study was to explore early psychophysiologic mother-infant interaction using the tenderness and anxiety theorems of Harry Stack Sullivan. Maternal anxiety and perception were assessed and related to changes in infant satiety, anxiety, and feeding behavior. Sixty-five healthy post-partum, bottle-feeding mothers completed the Blank Infant Tenderness Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Blood samples were obtained from the infants just before and 60 minutes after feeding for determination of glucose and cortisol. Formula consumption was also noted. Multivariate analysis of variance demonstrated that maternal state-trait anxiety was related to infant glucose, cortisol, and formula consumption. In particular, mild maternal prefeed state anxiety was associated with lower infant cortisol difference scores, and extremely low maternal prefeed state anxiety was associated with higher infant cortisol difference scores. Mild maternal feed state anxiety, in turn, was associated with greater infant formula consumption, and extremely low maternal feed state anxiety was associated with lower formula consumption. Pearson correlations indicated a significant direct relationship between infant prefeed cortisol and postfeed glucose, but not between infant formula consumption and postfeed glucose.

Development of the Infant Tenderness Scale.

This article describes the development of a new instrument, the Blank Infant Tenderness Scale (BITS), designed to measure mothers' perceptions of infant tenderness needs. These infant needs include physiological requirements, such as nourishment and adequate body temperature, and contact requirements, such as physical closeness and manipulation. Guided by Sullivan's (1953) theorem of tenderness, a 36-item instrument was constructed. To assess reliability and validity of the BITS and to develop a beginning data base with new mothers, 65 healthy postpartum mothers participated in the study. The results demonstrated that the BITS has high internal consistency and construct validity, and sufficient split-half reliability. Parity was found to affect mothers' perceptions, with multiparous mothers differentiating more among infant tenderness needs than primiparous mothers. Although maternal age did not significantly influence mothers' perceptions, a graded effect was noted. The results further support the view that both physiological and contact needs are important in providing an infant with tenderness.

Treatment of protracted bilateral mandibular dislocation with Proplast-Vitallium prostheses.

A case of bilateral protracted mandibular dislocation complicated by the presence of unusual degenerative changes in the temporomandibular joints is presented. A synopsis of treatment modalities that have been used previously to treat similar conditions is given. Our treatment consisted of bilateral condylectomies, eminectomies, and insertion of Proplast-coated Vitallium condylar prostheses. These procedures resulted in the re-establishment of normal TMJ anatomy, the maintenance of proper posterior mandibular vertical dimension, correction of malocclusion, and relief of the patient's symptoms.