Search results for "odor"
showing 10 items of 569 documents
Culture and odor categorization : agreement between cultures depends upon the odors
2003
This study evaluated the effect of culture on the relationship between psychological dimensions underlying odor perception and odor categorization. In a first experiment, French, Vietnamese and American participants rated several perceptual dimensions of everyday odorants, and sorted these odorants on the basis of their similarity. Results showed that the three groups of participants differed in their perceptual judgments but agreed in categorizing the odors into four consensual groups (floral, sweet, bad, and nature). Three dimensions––pleasantness, edibility, cosmetic acceptability––discriminated these groups in the same way in the three countries. In a second experiment, the participants…
The perception of odor objects in everyday life: a review on the processing of odor mixtures
2014
International audience; Smelling monomolecular odors hardly ever occurs in everyday life, and the daily functioning of the sense of smell relies primarily on the processing of complex mixtures of volatiles that are present in the environment (e.g., emanating from food or conspecifics). Such processing allows for the instantaneous recognition and categorization of smells and also for the discrimination of odors among others to extract relevant information and to adapt efficiently in different contexts. The neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning this highly efficient analysis of complex mixtures of odorants is beginning to be unraveled and support the idea that olfaction, as vision and au…
Data from: The influence of slavemaking lifestyle, caste and sex on chemical profiles in Temnothorax ants: insights into the evolution of cuticular h…
2016
Chemical communication is central for the formation and maintenance of insect societies. Generally, social insects only allow nest-mates into their colony, which are recognized by their cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs). Social parasites, which exploit insect societies, are selected to circumvent host recognition. Here, we studied whether chemical strategies to reduce recognition evolved convergently in slavemaking ants, and whether they extend to workers, queens and males alike. We studied CHCs of three social parasites and their related hosts to investigate whether the parasitic lifestyle selects for specific chemical traits that reduce host recognition. Slavemaker profiles were characterized…
Industrial odour pollution and human health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
2021
Abstract Objective To conduct a systematic review to evaluate the association between residential or occupational short- and long–term exposure to odour pollution from industrial sources and the health status of the exposed population. Methods The searches were conducted in Medline, EMBASE and Scopus in April 2021. Exposure to an environmental odour from industrial sources in population resident near the source or in workers was considered. We considered outcomes for which there was a biological plausibility, such as wheezing and asthma, cough, headache, nausea and vomiting (primary outcomes). We also included stress-related symptoms and novel outcomes (e.g. mood states). Risk of bias was e…
Mobilization of short-term memory capacity for odors in discriminative tests: implication for assessors' selection
2004
Abstract The objective was to determine whether individual short-term memory capacities for odor are related to performance at discriminative tests. Two groups of 11 subjects were formed with different short-term memory for odor but equivalent sensitivity toward benzaldehyde, the aromatic compound to be detected in discriminative tests. The subject sensitivity was determined by d ′ values, derived from a detection task. Memory span for odors was the largest number of odors memorized at once. It ranged from 1 to 3 for the low memory span group and from 5 to 7 for the high memory span group. Then, subjects performed 20 triangle tests and 12 2-out-of-5 tests with two strawberry flavored soft d…
The Secretion of Areolar (Montgomery's) Glands from Lactating Women Elicits Selective, Unconditional Responses in Neonates
2009
Background The communicative meaning of human areolae for newborn infants was examined here in directly exposing 3-day old neonates to the secretion from the areolar glands of Montgomery donated by non related, non familiar lactating women. Methodology/Principal Findings The effect of the areolar stimulus on the infants' behavior and autonomic nervous system was compared to that of seven reference stimuli originating either from human or non human mammalian sources, or from an arbitrarily-chosen artificial odorant. The odor of the native areolar secretion intensified more than all other stimuli the infants' inspiratory activity and appetitive oral responses. These responses appeared to deve…
Osmophobia in migraine classification: a multicentre study in juvenile patients.
2010
Aims: This study was planned to investigate the diagnostic utility of osmophobia as criterion for migraine without aura (MO) as proposed in the Appendix (A1.1) of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-II, 2004). Methods: We analysed 1020 patients presenting at 10 Italian juvenile headache centres, 622 affected by migraine (M) and 328 by tension-type headache (TTH); 70 were affected by headache not elsewhere classified (NEC) in ICHD-II. By using a semi-structured questionnaire, the prevalence of osmophobia was 26.9%, significantly higher in M than TTH patients (34.6% vs 14.3%). Results: Osmophobia was correlated with: (i) family history of M and osmophobia; and (ii) o…
Halitosis: could it be more than mere bad breath?
2010
Halitosis is a generic term used to describe unpleasant odor emanating from the mouth air and breath, independent of the source where the odor substances originate. It affects between 50 and 65% of the population, but despite its frequency, this problem is often unaccepted and declared as taboo. Ninety percent of patients suffering from halitosis have oral causes: a small, but important percentage, of oral malodor cases have an extra-oral etiology, very often falling into the category of "blood-borne halitosis". Several systemic diseases have been found to provoke malodor or to be a cofactor; bad breath may be an early sign of a serious local or systemic condition. A psychogenic halitosis a…
Halitosis: new insight into a millennial old problem.
2011
The problem of halitosis has been reported since ancienttimes. References have been found in papyrus manuscriptsdating back to 1550 BC. Hippocrates advised that any girlshould have pleasant breath, making sure always to washher mouth with wine, anise and dill seeds [1].More than50 years ago, Blackburn [2] investigated halitosis in a case-series of 73 patients affected by leukemia. He found apeculiar odor of the breath resembling that of a freshlyopened corpse. This characteristic smell is not associatedwith clinical involvement of the gum, mouth, or upperrespiratory or alimentary tract. He associated this particularsmell with the hematologic disease. Nearly 15 years ago,the role of cadaveri…