Animal Human Studies Research Articles

Cardiovascular effects of air pollution: current evidence from animal and human studies.

Air pollution is a global health concern. Particulate matter (PM)2.5, a component of ambient air pollution, has been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the pollutants that poses the greatest threat to public health. Cardiovascular health effects have been extensively documented, and these effects are still being researched to provide an overview of recent literature regarding air pollution-associated cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in humans. Additionally, potential mechanisms through which air pollutants affect the cardiovascular system are discussed based on human and additional animal studies. We used the strategy of a narrative review to summarize the scientific literature of studies that were published in the past 7 yr. Searches were carried out on PubMed and Web of Science using predefined search queries. We obtained an initial set of 800 publications that were filtered to 78 publications that were relevant to include in this review. Analysis of the literature showed significant associations between air pollution, especially PM2.5, and the risk of elevated blood pressure (BP), acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction (MI), cardiac arrhythmia, and heart failure (HF). Prominent mechanisms that underlie the adverse effects of air pollution include oxidative stress, systemic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, autonomic imbalance, and thrombogenicity. The current review underscores the relevance of air pollution as a global health concern that affects cardiovascular health. More rigorous standards are needed to reduce the cardiovascular disease burden imposed by air pollution. Continued research on the health impact of air pollution is needed to provide further insight.

Neural Abnormalities in Fear Generalization in Schizophrenia and Associations With Negative Symptoms

BackgroundAssociative learning and memory processes, including the generalization of previously learned associations, may be altered in schizophrenia. Deficits in schizophrenia in stimulus generalization, one of the simplest forms of memory, could interfere with the ability to efficiently categorize related, similar information, potentially leading to impairments in daily functioning. MethodsTo measure generalization in schizophrenia, 37 individuals with a nonaffective psychotic disorder and 32 demographically matched healthy control subjects underwent a Pavlovian fear conditioning and generalization procedure, which accounted for variation in perceptual ability across participants, while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Skin conductance and neural responses to conditioned (CS+), neutral (CS−), and generalization stimuli were measured. Explicit memory ratings reflecting successful generalization were also collected after the scanning, as well as measures of symptom severity. ResultsCompared with healthy control subjects, individuals with nonaffective psychotic disorders showed significant deficits in fear generalization across multiple measurements, with impairments in memory ratings and reductions in activation and deactivation of the salience and default networks, respectively, during fear generalization. Moreover, in the psychotic disorder group, greater behavioral and neural abnormalities in generalization were associated with higher levels of negative symptoms. ConclusionsFear generalization is impaired in psychotic illness. Given that successful generalization relies on a dynamic balance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission, these results reveal a potentially quantifiable mechanism linked to negative symptoms that can be investigated further in future human and experimental animal studies.

Identifying causative mechanisms linking early-life stress to psycho-cardio-metabolic multi-morbidity: The EarlyCause project.

IntroductionDepression, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are among the major non-communicable diseases, leading to significant disability and mortality worldwide. These diseases may share environmental and genetic determinants associated with multimorbid patterns. Stressful early-life events are among the primary factors associated with the development of mental and physical diseases. However, possible causative mechanisms linking early life stress (ELS) with psycho-cardio-metabolic (PCM) multi-morbidity are not well understood. This prevents a full understanding of causal pathways towards the shared risk of these diseases and the development of coordinated preventive and therapeutic interventions.Methods and analysisThis paper describes the study protocol for EarlyCause, a large-scale and inter-disciplinary research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The project takes advantage of human longitudinal birth cohort data, animal studies and cellular models to test the hypothesis of shared mechanisms and molecular pathways by which ELS shapes an individual’s physical and mental health in adulthood. The study will research in detail how ELS converts into biological signals embedded simultaneously or sequentially in the brain, the cardiovascular and metabolic systems. The research will mainly focus on four biological processes including possible alterations of the epigenome, neuroendocrine system, inflammatome, and the gut microbiome. Life-course models will integrate the role of modifying factors as sex, socioeconomics, and lifestyle with the goal to better identify groups at risk as well as inform promising strategies to reverse the possible mechanisms and/or reduce the impact of ELS on multi-morbidity development in high-risk individuals. These strategies will help better manage the impact of multi-morbidity on human health and the associated risk.

LITERARY FELINOPHILIA AND ANIMALISTIC PERSPECTIVES OF MODERNITY (T. GAUTIER, J. JOYCE, T. S. ELIOT)

Each literary era is characterized by certain models of literary animalism with their own semantic accents and symbolism, types of communication “man — animal”, genre preferences. The article examines the features of literary felinistics of the Art Nouveau era, identifies the cultural and social causes of artistic felinophilia. As a material for the study there were three texts written in the period from 1869 to 1939, considered both in the wide cultural context of the modern era, and within the boundaries of their time (modern): “Ménagerie intime”, 1869 by Gaultier T., “The Cats of Copenhagen’’ (1936) by Joyce J. and “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” (1939) by Eliot T. S. In the course of our research, we relied on both historical and literary works devoted to the analysis of specific animalistic images, works of a culturological nature, and also turned to the experience of structuralist studies and the ideas of new posthumanistic knowledge (Human-Animal Studies). The animalistic texts of Gauthier — Joyce — Eliot unite not only the acting cat characters, but also certain artistic perspectives, similar types of human-animal relationships, social and cultural contexts in which their heroes are represented. The feline characters of Gauthier-Joyce-Eliot have much in common: they are anthropomorphic inhabitants of the urban space of the industrial era, leading an appropriate lifestyle and possessing qualities inherent in the middle class. Gautier, Joyce, Eliot’s cats have a bright personality, extraordinary abilities, a lively mind, a rich emotional world, they live according to the laws of human society. They are attractive, intelligent, vital, civilized individuals with unique, eccentric characters (humors).

Cave Canem

So far, animals in fables have almost exclusively been studied as symbolic representatives of human behaviour. New perspectives are opened up by Human-Animal Studies which focus on the animals themselves and human-animal relationships. Inspired by this approach, this article examines five fables of Graeco-Roman antiquity which are connected by the motif of the vicious dog. On the basis of philological interpretation it is shown to what extent and with which intention the dogs are anthropomorphised and at the same time represented as real animals. Interestingly, the human protagonists usually don´t blame the dogs and draw a clear borderline between animals and humans. It seems that successful communication is possible only within the same species.

Middle Ground Between Light and Shadow

148 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 48 (2021) [and] permits bypassing in many instances the reptilian part of our brain that holds onto ideologies and fears precipitating violent conflict and overreactions” (166). Murphy’s chapter has already been addressed above, while Sperling’s investigation of fungal themes and what she calls “weird embodiment” in VanderMeer’s oeuvre (195) and Bishop’s examination of ekphrasis also situate the place of the new weird in plant studies. Bishop’s interest in ekphrasis, or the linguistic description of art or the image, is a fascinating trope to examine speculative fiction’s construction of the visual and holds much potential for further research within and beyond plant studies. Bishop contends that the linguistic expansion of the image via interpretation draws attention to the previously overlooked: “When paired with speculative fiction, the interpretative operations of ekphrasis are powerfully political, particularly when tuned to a vegetal key, reanimating that which we take for granted as safe, sessile, if not controlled then controllable’ (229). Plants in Science Fiction establishes key theoretical concepts and offers approaches that point the way for further studies addressing the dearth of critical studies on plants in sf. Perhaps reflective of the novelty of this emerging discipline, and providing a coherent thematic thread for the collection, multiple chapters cite several academic and popular scientific works, including journalist Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire: A Plant’sEye View of the World (2001), T.S. Miller’s “Lives of the Monster Plants: The Revenge of the Vegetable in the Age of Animal Studies” (2012), and those by Stefano Mancuso (for example, Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence, co-authored with Alessandra Viola [2015], and Communication in Plants: Neuronal Aspects of Plant Life, coedited with František Baluška and Dieter Volkmann [2006]). This book rightly acknowledges that plants have been neglected in sf studies and in wider literary and cultural criticism, despite—as Bishop shows in the introduction—how frequently they appear in sf and how important they are to those narratives. The book demonstrates a complementarity among different approaches to the representation and meaning of plants in sf. Plants in Science Fiction is a much-needed study of plants in sf that offers potential for synthesis with human-animal studies and broader ecological and environmental criticism.—Chris Pak, University of Swansea Middle Ground Between Light and Shadow. Barry Keith Grant. The Twilight Zone. Wayne State UP, TV MILESTONE SERIES, 2019. v+121 pp. $19.99 pbk. Each study in Wayne State UP’s TV MILESTONE SERIES is designed to offer a close examination of an individual television series, placing it within its industrial, historical, and cultural contexts while also offering space for more detailed analysis of the qualities that make it stand out against other shows. The series titles are diverse, encompassing comparatively recent programs alongside classics of television history, as well as representing a wide selection of television genres. The inclusion of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone (1959- 149 BOOKS IN REVIEW 1964) in the series positions it as a key title in televisual history and in the growing canon of quality television shows. While its presence in such a canon may seem obvious to many fans and sf scholars, Grant offers an insightful and convincing rationale for its significance. Building upon a wealth of production histories, tv scholarship, episode guides, and published and broadcast interviews with Serling, as well as his own close analysis, Grant offers a compelling discussion of this show and its distinctive legacy. As he explains, The Twilight Zone remains a highly recognizable and eminently quotable television series and an established icon of popular culture. Grant begins the book by acknowledging this influence, citing numerous contemporary pop-culture references to the show, including Family Guy (1998-) and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015-). These citations not only allude to specific episodes but also assume that modern audiences will be familiar with the narrative, generic, and stylistic qualities that underpin the series, such as its fantasy elements, its twist endings, and its renowned theme music; this is not an assumption that one would make about many of its contemporaries. Grant provides a lengthy breakdown...

Persona Non Grata

This essay tells the story of the authors’ relationship with a rescued marsupial raised from a baby in Aotearoa New Zealand, in sections interspersed with an account of this species’ history in our country. This animal belongs to a species designated a noxious pest here, a population subject to an especially sustained, thorough, and popularly-supported campaign of vilification and destruction, even by the standards that apply in New Zealand, where the dominant environmental ideology is very intensely focussed on eradication of introduced species. So in deciding to take responsibility for this creature, the authors committed to keeping her both hidden and captive. This raises some intractable questions: is it in this animal’s best interests to be enclosed, or should she be allowed to take her chances on the roads and amongst the traps and poison? how can her captors offer her the best life? what relationship should they have with her? The essay also describes the intimate relationship the two authors have developed with this animal, through nightly interaction, and touches on some of the phenomenological questions she presents: what might it be like to be an arboreal, nocturnal, marsupial mammal instead of a terrestrial, diurnal, placental one? What might it be like to have four legs (or perhaps five, if we count the extraordinary prehensile tail) that are simultaneously arms, rather than two arms and two legs? In New Zealand the overwhelming hostility to this species makes it nearly impossible to recognize or consider its members as living sentient beings. Our primary aim in this essay, therefore, is to convey as directly as possible the emotional and physical experience of being in relationship with this particular animal, while succinctly situating that experience within a relevant environmental context. We didn’t want to use this animal’s story merely as a pretext for exploring larger histories or topics in human-animal studies. For this reason we have chosen the genre of creative nonfiction, and refrained from engaging with discussions by human-animal studies scholars that would be required in a research article.

Antidiabetic Activity of Nigella Sativa (Black Seeds) and Its Active Constituent (Thymoquinone): A Review of Human and Experimental Animal Studies.

The use of herbal medicine to manage chronic conditions including diabetes has become a recent global trend. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia. The present review is aimed to analyze the antidiabetic activity of N. sativa as many type 2 diabetic patients use it as a complementary therapy along with their modern allopathic medications or as an alternative therapy. The literature was reviewed in databases like Medline/PubMed Central/PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, EBSCO, Scopus, Web of science, EMBASE, Directory of open access journals (DOAJ), and reference lists to identify relevant articles supporting the use of N. sativa in diabetes management. Numerous clinical and animal studies have demonstrated the antidiabetic efficacy of black seeds (N. sativa) and its major bioactive constituent thymoquinone. Based on these findings patients with diabetes may use N. sativa as an adjuvant therapy, which may help to reduce the dose and incidence of adverse effects of modern antidiabetic medicines.

Learning to Read Equine Agency: Sense and Sensitivity at the Intersection of Scientific, Tacit and Situated Knowledges

The aim of this essay is to address the challenges and problems in communicating with horses and interpreting their communication in everyday handling and training situations. We seek ways to learn more about equine communication and agency in the prevention of cruelty against animals and in enhancing animal welfare. We ask how it would be possible to learn to read the subtle signs of equine communication and agency in a sensible, sensitive, and ethical way to increase the health and wellbeing of horses that humans interact with. We have placed this theoretical examination in a multidisciplinary framework that consists of humananimal studies, feminist posthumanities, cultural and literary studies, and equine social science, as well as applied insights from, for example, discussions on power, ethics, and politics. Our emphasis is on the need for situated knowledges, among scientific and tacit knowledges, in order to ‘become with’ a horse in a relationship based on mutual communication and trust. These different types of knowledges are central to an ‘animal politics’ that is organised politically on behalf of animals and motivated by an ethics of care and responsibility, echoing recent requests for a relational ethics in interactions with animals in multispecies societies and more-than-human worlds.

Репрезентация животных в рассказе Севера Гансовского Зверек (1969)

The literary works of Sever Gansovsky are an excellent example of modern eco-literature. For many years, the writer worked with the genre of eco-science fiction, which is engaged into the study of the nature of human existence and the interaction of humans with non-human animals. The methods of Human-Animal Studies, applied to science fiction works, allowed us to analyze the writer’s novels in the context of the latest research in eco-literature and bioethics. The object of this study is the novel Little Animal, written in 1969. The novel tells a story of a small boy who is particularly cruel to animals. Little Animal represents the creation of a man as an exponent of a new eco-culture. The novel shows the formation of a new cognitive model of the world, in whichanimals are playing a mediating role between the man and the nature that is beyond the limits of human experience.

Can Methods Do Good?

In this conversational essay, three scholars working in the field of human—animal studies discuss the multi—species work that is underway in ethnology. Examples of different methodological approaches are highlighted; multispecies ethnography, crystallization, feminist dog-writing and écriture feminine. By reflecting on the value of such techniques, the authors contend that a renewed enthusiasm for methodological innovation can pave the way for more rounded accounts of social life, bringing animals and their agencies into clearer focus as companions, workers and beings in their own right. This is regarded as both an intellectual and ethical pursuit, with methods placed at the heart of the endeavour.

Working memory training effects across the lifespan: Evidence from human and experimental animal studies

Working memory refers to a cognitive function that provides temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for complex cognitive tasks. Due to its central role in general cognition, several studies have investigated the possibility that training on working memory tasks could improve not only working memory function but also increase other cognitive abilities or modulate other behaviors. This possibility is still highly controversial, with prior studies providing contradictory findings. The lack of systematic approaches and methodological shortcomings complicates this debate even more. This review highlights the impact of working memory training at different ages on humans. Finally, it demonstrates several findings about the neural substrate of training in both humans and experimental animals, including non-human primates and rodents.

On the Fringe: Sheepdogs and Their Status Within Bronze Age Ontologies in Scandinavia

This contribution draws mainly on images of dogs, humans and sheep from Nordic Bronze Age rock art sources, but living arrangements within the household and depositional patterns of dog bones on settlements are also considered to extrapolate an understanding of the physical reality and ontological role of sheepdogs within the social aspects of the practice of herding. I use theories from the interdisciplinary field of human-animal studies to understand how socialisation, habituation and trust create a seamless choreography between human, dog and sheep.

Development and Application of the Owner-Bird Relationship Scale (OBRS) to Assess the Relation of Humans to Their Pet Birds.

Only a few birds besides domestic pigeons and poultry can be described as domesticated. Therefore, keeping a pet bird can be challenging, and the human-avian relationship will have a major influence on the quality of this cohabitation. Studies that focus on characterizing the owner-bird relationship generally use adapted cat/dog scales which may not identify its specific features. Following a sociological approach, a concept of human-animal relationship was developed leading to three types of human-animal relationship (impersonal, personal, and close personal). This concept was used to develop a 21-item owner-bird-relationship scale (OBRS). This scale was applied to measure the relationship between pet bird owners (or keepers) (n = 1,444) and their birds in an online survey performed in Germany. Factor analysis revealed that the relationship between owner and bird consisted of four dimensions: the tendency of the owner to anthropomorphize the bird; the social support the bird provides for the owner; the empathy, attentiveness, and respect of the owner toward the bird; and the relationship of the bird toward the owner. More than one quarter of the German bird owners of this sample showed an impersonal, half a personal, and less than a quarter a close personal relationship to their bird. The relationship varied with the socio-demographic characteristics of the owners, such as gender, marital status, and education. This scale supports more comprehensive quantitative research into the human-bird relationship in the broad field of human-animal studies including the psychology and sociology of animals as well as animal welfare and veterinary medicine.

Animals and Beauties: Zoomorphic Inscriptions of a Modern Gender Hierarchy

Abstract At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, along with myriad other foundational changes taking place in China, attitudes to the role and significance of women and animals were also changing. This evolution is apparent in the artistic realm where both had featured in imperial-era Chinese art for centuries and continued to appear in the new Republic after 1911. This article examines animals and their paired depiction with women within one genre of art – the Baimei tu (One hundred beauties) – as it evolved from the late 1800s until the end of the 1910s. An examination of the works of leading commercial artists of this form reveals the importance of animals in the creation of a gendered modernity for China’s Republic – one that established a clear hierarchy of men over women. This article argues that the species-ist othering of animals was integral to the othering of women in the early Republican world of commercial art. It contributes to the literature on human-animal studies that shows the links between species-ism and sexism through the identical processes of variously othering animals and women. Identifying animals and women as special and different, reinforces a species hierarchy that places humans above other animals and a sex hierarchy that places men above women.

Human-Animal Studies: Remembering the Past, Celebrating the Present, Troubling the Future

Abstract This is the third in a series of reports on the state of the field of Human-Animal Studies. In the introductory section, major terms in the prevailing definition of the field—Human-Animal Studies is the interdisciplinary study of human-animal relationships—are unpacked and critically analyzed. Subsequent sections deal with the field’s past, present, and possible futures. A schematic history of the field considers both scholarly contributions and programmatic inroads in the academy. The current state of the field section describes its breadth in terms of publication venues, disciplines that interface with it, and the variety of methods employed. It also offers a description of several common strategies that critique the received view of the categorical divide between human and other animal beings. The final section highlights both the potential of and anticipated roadblocks to each of several future trajectories.

Eserewondo Rozongombe : Livestock as Sites of Power and Resistance in Kaokoveld, Namibia

Abstract This article details how the ovaHerero of Kaokoveld (north-west Namibia) experienced the precolonial and colonial eras as mediated through their cattle culture. While histories of Namibia rarely use non-Western lenses to interpret processes during the colonial era, this article examines ovaHerero colonial experiences as one episode within a broader history. It draws together archival and published sources to tell the little-known history of a people living in a remote and rugged rural area that nevertheless is of considerable contemporary interest because of wildlife conservation. Yet the ovaHerero of Kaokoveld remain little understood outside exoticised tourism material. Their history holds important lessons for the role of non-human actors in the precolonial and colonial eras, and for how environments, racialised social policies and power politics interacted to help construct contemporary north-west Namibia. Recentring ovaHerero experiences of these eras contributes to postcolonial studies of subaltern groups, the field of human-animal studies and the historiography of Namibia and Southern Africa.

Camostat mesylate against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19-Rationale, dosing and safety.

The coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, utilizes a viral membrane spike protein for host cell entry. For the virus to engage in host membrane fusion, SARS-CoV-2 utilizes the human transmembrane surface protease, TMPRSS2, to cleave and activate the spike protein. Camostat mesylate, an orally available well-known serine protease inhibitor, is a potent inhibitor of TMPRSS2 and has been hypothesized as a potential antiviral drug against COVID-19. In vitro human cell and animal studies have shown that camostat mesylate inhibits virus-cell membrane fusion and hence viral replication. In mice, camostat mesylate treatment during acute infection with influenza, also dependent on TMPRSS2, leads to a reduced viral load. The decreased viral load may be associated with an improved patient outcome. Because camostat mesylate is administered as an oral drug, it may be used in outpatients as well as inpatients at all disease stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection if it is shown to be an effective antiviral agent. Clinical trials are currently ongoing to test whether this well-known drug could be repurposed and utilized to combat the current pandemic. In the following, we will review current knowledge on camostat mesylate mode of action, potential benefits as an antiviral agent and ongoing clinical trials.

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Grow Together: Save the World While Building a Meaningful ‘Bee-lationship’
 Paul Sherfey
 
 Keywords: insects; interspecies relationships; human-animal studies; community gardens
 Collective gardens – in which individuals work collectively to cultivate and care for a common gardening area – have become a growing phenomenon in recent years. At these sites, the cultivation of community is often as important as the cultivation of organic, local produce. However, observation and digital research carried out in the context of a transnational study of such gardens demonstrates that this community is not limited to human participants, but instead also includes other animal species at these sites. The article investigates the relationships cultivated with one such group – insects. How might we understand the interest shown by gardeners in building hotels and cafés, sowing meadows and arranging festivals for insects? Do participants only see insects for their use-value, or is there something more occurring in the relationship they cultivate, and how it is represented and discussed? Beginning with a discussion of the built environment of the studied collective gardens, the article analyses how certain design choices are specifically oriented towards the use and benefit of insects – especially bees. Progressing from physical space to digital space, the empirical discussion then investigates this interest in bees and their welfare further through several paradigmatic examples. In so doing, discourses communicated in manifestos, social media and news interviews are analysed. This is done in order to explore the worldviews from which individuals and groups understand the importance of bees, as well as the backgrounds that influence their actions and the fantasies for the future that provide a focal point towards which to orient their efforts. Finally, I contrast the discourses about bees with the lack of similar discourse about another group of insects which are readily observable at many sites – wasps. I discuss how differing cultural heritages related to each affect how they are valued and reflect on the possibilities available to us as humans to see ourselves and our future as being dependent on one species, while being comparably indifferent to the presence and important contributions of the other.

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 In a horse’s belly: Interspecies relations as a critique of civilization
 
 
 
 Jenny Ingridsdotter & Kim Silow Kallenberg
 
 
 
 Keywords: natureculture, animals, popular culture, masculinity
 
 
 In this article, we analyse how the relationship between humans and other species is portrayed in contemporary films and series that have the rise and fall of civilization as their theme: Into the Wild (2007), The Revenant (2015), Into the Forest (2015) and The Walking Dead (2010-). The purpose is to understand how relationships between humans, animals and non-humans are portrayed. The films/series have been chosen on the basis of their portrayal of social downfall or social dissatisfaction and on the grounds that they are also widely recognised and popular portrayals. The analysis focuses on two male characters (The Revenant, Into the Wild) and two female characters (Into the Forest and The Walking Dead) to investigate relationships between humans and other species (animals and zombies) when it comes to survival, and how these relationships are possibly conditioned by gender. Methodologically, we approach these popular cultural depictions as ethnographers, with human meaning-making as the primary point of departure. Theoretically, we use concepts developed in the field of human-animal studies.
 
 The analysis shows that there are differences between the representations of different species and that these representations are also conditioned by gender in the human characters. Where men are alone in their struggle against nature, women are part of social relationships where they, together with others (human and non-human), struggle to survive. The analysis further shows how animals and other species constantly condition and enable human existence. However, lacking human language, the animals – who are absolutely vital for the actions and survival of the human characters – are rendered unimportant.