Cross-Cultural Agreement in Facial Attractiveness Preferences: The Role of Ethnicity and Gender

Previous work showed high agreement in facial attractiveness preferences within and across cultures. The aims of the current study were twofold. First, we tested cross-cultural agreement in the attractiveness judgements of White Scottish and Black South African students for own- and other-ethnicity faces. Results showed significant agreement between White Scottish and Black South African observers'' attractiveness judgements, providing further evidence of strong cross-cultural agreement in facial attractiveness preferences. Second, we tested whether cross-cultural agreement is influenced by the ethnicity and/or the gender of the target group. White Scottish and Black South African observers showed significantly higher agreement for Scottish than for African faces, presumably because both groups are familiar with White European facial features, but the Scottish group are less familiar with Black African facial features. Further work investigating this discordance in cross-cultural attractiveness preferences for African faces show that Black South African observers rely more heavily on colour cues when judging African female faces for attractiveness, while White Scottish observers rely more heavily on shape cues. Results also show higher cross-cultural agreement for female, compared to male faces, albeit not significantly higher. The findings shed new light on the factors that influence cross-cultural agreement in attractiveness preferences.     

People at Risk of Influenza Pandemics: The Evolution of Perception and Behavior

Influenza pandemics can severely impact human health and society. Understanding public perception and behavior toward influenza pandemics is important for minimizing the effects of such events. Public perception and behavior are expected to change over the course of an influenza pandemic, but this idea has received little attention in previous studies. Our study aimed to understand the dynamics of public perception and behavior over the course of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Three consecutive cross-sectional surveys were administered among Beijing residents with random-digit dialing techniques in March 2008 and August and November 2009. Effective samples of 507, 508 and 1006 respondents were interviewed in each of the three surveys, respectively. The mean scores of risk perception were low to moderate across the three surveys. The perceived risk of infection of self was significantly lower than that of the community, revealing an optimistic bias. Longitudinally, the perceived risk of contracting H1N1 increased, whereas the perceived risk of being unable to obtain medicine and medical care once influenza permeated the community first increased and then decreased. Responsive actions toward influenza varied. Most respondents took actions that required little extra effort, such as ventilating rooms; these actions did not change over time. Comparatively, a smaller number of respondents took actions for coping with influenza, such as vaccination; however, these actions were taken by an increasing number of respondents over time. The association between risk perception and behavior was unstable. Positive, insignificant, and negative associations were obtained in the three surveys. In conclusion, the evolving patterns of risk perception and responsive behavior over the course of an influenza pandemic are sensitive to how risk and behavior are defined and scoped.     

Activity of Head Muscles During Feeding by Snakes: A Comparative Study

The adaptive radiation of colubroid snakes has involved thedevelopment of numerous prey capture specializations combinedwith conservation of a swallowing mechanism characterized byindependent movements of the right and left toothed bones ofthe skull. Synchronized electromyographic and cinematographicrecordings of swallowing in Nerodia, Elaphe, Heterodon and Agkistrodon,four diverse genera of colubroid snakes, allow a preliminaryevaluation of the relationship between prey capture and swallowing.The results indicate that the movements of the palatopterygoidbar and advance of the mandible as closing of the jaws beginsas well as patterns of muscle activity producing these movementsare similar among the four genera. Conversely, the patternsof activity of external adductors and, to some extent, the depressormandibulae differ among the four genera sampled. Analyses ofbone movements during swallowing suggest that swallowing iseffected primarily by the palatopterygoid bars. The mandiblesand their connecting soft tissues mainly press the prey againstthe palatopterygoid teeth. The mandibular teeth evidently playlittle active role in swallowing. Also, the maxilla, which displaysconsiderable morphological diversity among colubroid snakes,has little independent or direct function in swallowing, itsteeth rarely contacting the prey. The data suggest that theheads of colubroid snakes have evolved two partially separatedstructural-functional units, a medial swallowing unit and alateral prey capture unit.     

Three Nematode Species Recovered from Terrestrial Snakes in Republic of Korea

The majority of parasitological studies of terrestrial snakes in Korea have focused on zoonotic parasites. However, in the present study, we describe 3 unrecorded nematode species recovered from 5 species of snakes (n=6) in Korea. The examined snakes, all confiscated from illegal hunters, were donated by the Chungnam Wild Animal Rescue Center and Korean Broadcasting System in July 2014 and February 2015. Light and scanning electron microscopies on the shapes of spicules that are either bent or straight (kalicephalids) and the presence of the intestinal cecum (ophidascarids) figured out 3 nematodes; Kalicephalus brachycephalus Maplestone, 1931, Kalicephalus sinensis Hsü, 1934, and Ophidascaris excavata Hsü and Hoeppli, 1934. These 3 species of nematode faunas are recorded for the first time in Korea.     

蛇场病死蛇与感染腐败谢瓦纳拉菌的探讨

目的探讨蛇场蛇死亡与细菌感染的关系。方法从８５条死蛇中随机抽样２０条,取其心脏积血进行微生物检验。结果从其中的１４条死蛇中分离出腐败谢瓦纳拉菌,分离阳性率为７０％。结论认为该菌可能是蛇病死的原因之一。     

Genetic Identification of Spirometra decipiens Plerocercoids in Terrestrial Snakes from Korea and China

Human sparganosis is a zoonotic disease caused by infection with larval forms (procercoid/plerocercoid) of Spirometra spp. The purpose of this study was to identify Spirometra spp. of infected snakes using a multiplex PCR assay and phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data from the spargana of terrestrial snakes obtained from Korea and China. A total of 283 snakes were obtained that included 4 species of Colubridae comprising Rhabdophis tigrinus tigrinus (n=150), Dinodon rufozonatum rufozonatum (n=64), Elaphe davidi (n=2), and Elaphe schrenkii (n=7), and 1 species of Viperidae, Agkistrodon saxatilis (n=60). The snakes were collected from the provinces of Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Gyeongbuk in Korea (n=161), and from China (n=122). The overall infection rate with spargana was 83% (235/283). The highest was recorded for D. rufozonatum rufozonatum (100%), followed by A. saxatilis (85%) and R. tigrinus tigrinus (80%), with a negative result for E. davidi (0%) and E. schrenkii (0%). The sequence identities between the spargana from snakes (n=50) and Spirometra erinaceieuropaei ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"KJ599680","term_id":"646228164","term_text":"KJ599680"}}KJ599680) or S. decipiens ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"KJ599679","term_id":"646228151","term_text":"KJ599679"}}KJ599679) control specimens were 90.8% and 99.2%, respectively. Pairwise genetic distances between spargana (n=50) and S. decipiens ranged from 0.0080 to 0.0107, while those between spargana and S. erinaceieuropaei ranged from 0.1070 to 0.1096. In this study, all of the 904 spargana analyzed were identified as S. decipiens either by a multiplex PCR assay (n=854) or mitochondrial cox1 sequence analysis (n=50).     

Sensory Perception: Lessons from Synesthesia: Using Synesthesia to Inform the Understanding of Sensory Perception

Synesthesia, the conscious, idiosyncratic, repeatable, and involuntary sensationof one sensory modality in response to another, is a condition that has puzzledboth researchers and philosophers for centuries. Much time has been spentproving the condition’s existence as well as investigating its etiology, butwhat can be learned from synesthesia remains a poorly discussed topic. Here,synaesthesia is presented as a possible answer rather than a question to thecurrent gaps in our understanding of sensory perception. By first appreciatingthe similarities between normal sensory perception and synesthesia, one can usewhat is known about synaesthesia, from behavioral and imaging studies, to informour understanding of “normal” sensory perception. In particular, in consideringsynesthesia, one can better understand how and where the different sensorymodalities interact in the brain, how different sensory modalities can interactwithout confusion ― the binding problem ― as well as how sensory perceptiondevelops.