A comparative analysis of colour-emotion associations in 16-88-year-old adults from 31 countries.

As people age, they tend to spend more time indoors, and the colours in their surroundings may significantly impact their mood and overall well-being. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to provide informed guidance on colour choices, irrespective of age group. To work towards informed choices, we investigated whether the associations between colours and emotions observed in younger individuals also apply to older adults. We recruited 7393 participants, aged between 16 and 88 years and coming from 31 countries. Each participant associated 12 colour terms with 20 emotion concepts and rated the intensity of each associated emotion. Different age groups exhibited highly similar patterns of colour-emotion associations (average similarity coefficient of .97), with subtle yet meaningful age-related differences. Adolescents associated the greatest number but the least positively biased emotions with colours. Older participants associated a smaller number but more intense and more positive emotions with all colour terms, displaying a positivity effect. Age also predicted arousal and power biases, varying by colour. Findings suggest parallels in colour-emotion associations between younger and older adults, with subtle but significant age-related variations. Future studies should next assess whether colour-emotion associations reflect what people actually feel when exposed to colour.

A test of the ecological valence theory of color preference, the case of Arabic.

Humans have systematic and reliable color preferences. The dominant account of color preference is that individuals like some colors more than others due to the valence of objects that they associate with colors (Ecological Valence Theory). In support of this theory, Palmer and Schloss show that the average valence of objects associated with a color, when weighted (the WAVE), explains up to 80% of the variation in color preference for adults from the United States (US). Here we investigate whether Ecological Valence Theory can account for the color preferences of female and male adults from Saudi Arabia to test how well the theory generalizes across cultures and how well it accounts for sex differences in color preference. We also extend the investigation of EVT by investigating whether abstract concept associations as well as object associations can account for preference. Saudi adults' color preferences, color object and concept associations, and association valence ratings were collected, and the WAVE was computed and correlated with preference ratings. The WAVE accounted for no more than half of the variance in Saudi color preferences, although there was some degree of sex specificity in the relationship of the WAVE and color preference. Adding abstract concept associations did not account for more variance than object associations alone, but the number of abstract concept associations did account for a significant amount of the variance in color preference for females, but not males. The findings converge with other cross-cultural studies in suggesting that the success of EVT in accounting for color preference varies across cultures and indicates that additional factors other than color associations are likely also at play.

Universal Patterns in Color-Emotion Associations Are Further Shaped by Linguistic and Geographic Proximity.

Many of us "see red," "feel blue," or "turn green with envy." Are such color-emotion associations fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture, or are they cultural creations learned through our languages and traditions? To answer these questions, we tested emotional associations of colors in 4,598 participants from 30 nations speaking 22 native languages. Participants associated 20 emotion concepts with 12 color terms. Pattern-similarity analyses revealed universal color-emotion associations (average similarity coefficient r = .88). However, local differences were also apparent. A machine-learning algorithm revealed that nation predicted color-emotion associations above and beyond those observed universally. Similarity was greater when nations were linguistically or geographically close. This study highlights robust universal color-emotion associations, further modulated by linguistic and geographic factors. These results pose further theoretical and empirical questions about the affective properties of color and may inform practice in applied domains, such as well-being and design.

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders in Arabian Gulf (NMOAG); establishment and initial characterization of a patient registry.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical and radiological characteristics of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) patients from the Arabian Gulf relative to anti-aquaporin 4 antibody serostatus. METHODS: Retrospective multicentre study of hospital records of patients diagnosed with NMOSD based on 2015 International Panel on NMOSD Diagnosis (IPND) consensus criteria. RESULTS: One hundred forty four patients were evaluated, 64.3% were anti-AQP4 antibody positive. Mean age at onset and disease duration were 31±12 and 7 ±â€¯6 years respectively. Patients were predominantly female (4.7:1). Overall; relapsing course (80%) was more common than monophasic (20%). Optic neuritis was the most frequent presentation (48.6%), regardless of serostatus. The proportion of patients (54.3%) with visual acuity of ≤ 0.1 was higher in the seropositive group (p = 0.018). Primary presenting symptoms of transverse myelitis (TM) were observed in 29% of patients, and were the most significant correlate of hospitalization (p<0.001). Relative to anti-APQ4 serostatus, there were no significant differences in terms of age of onset, course, relapse rates or efficacy outcomes except for oligoclonal bands (OCB), which were more often present in seronegative patients (40% vs.22.5%; p = 0.054). Irrespective of serostatus, several disease modifying therapies were instituted including steroids or immunosuppressives, mostly, rituximab and azathioprine in the cohort irrespective of serostatus. The use of rituximab resulted in reduction in disease activity. CONCLUSION: This is the first descriptive NMOSD cohort in the Arabian Gulf region. Seropositive patients were more prevalent with female predominance. Relapsing course was more common than monophasic. However, anti-AQP4 serostatus did not impact disease duration, relapse rate or therapeutic effectiveness. These findings offer new insights into natural history of NMOSD in patients of the Arabian Gulf and allow comparison with patient populations in different World regions.

Auto-immune anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis: three case reports.

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis is a recently identified auto-immune disorder characterised by severe memory deficit, a decreased level of consciousness, seizures, autonomic dysfunction and movement disorders. Three girls with the disorder are reported; they were aged 4 years, 5 years and 10 months. The 10-month-old infant who is one of the youngest patients reported with anti-NMDAR encephalitis worldwide, had MRI features suggestive of herpes simplex encephalitis (known to trigger anti-NMDAR encephalitis), but CSF PCR for herpes simplex was negative. All the patients presented with seizures, behavioural change, regression of speech, dystonia and choreo-athetosis. Anti-NMDAR antibodies were detected in all patients' sera and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Intravenous immunoglobulin, corticosteroids and rituximab were administered at different intervals. Cases 1 and 2 made a full recovery, but case 3 has mild motor and speech delay. Patients who present with encephalopathy, seizures and movement disorders should be tested for anti-NMDAR antibodies in serum and CSF in addition to being screened for herpes simplex encephalitis.

Prevalence and Predictors of Self-Medication with Antibiotics in Al Wazarat Health Center, Riyadh City, KSA.

BACKGROUND: Antibiotics are responsible for most dramatic improvement in medical therapy in history. These medications contributed significantly to the decreasing mortality and morbidity when prescribed based on evidence of microbial infection. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and predictors of self-prescription with antibiotics in Al Wazarat Health Center, Riyadh City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study was conducted in Al Wazarat Health Center between February 2014 and November 2014. Respondents were randomly selected using a multistage clustered random sampling technique. Data was entered into SPSS version 21 and analyzed. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression models were applied. RESULTS: A total of 681 patients have participated in this study with a response rate of 92%. The prevalence of self-prescription with antibiotics in Al Wazarat Health Center was 78.7%. Amoxicillin was the most used self-prescribed antibiotic with prevalence of (22.3%). Friend advice on self-prescription of antibiotics use (p = 0.000) and pharmacy near to the participants (p = 0.002) were the most common predictors for self-prescription with antibiotics. CONCLUSION: The level of self-prescribing antibiotics is relatively high among participants. Health education on the appropriate use of antibiotics is highly recommended. The proper use of treatment guidelines for antibiotic therapy will significantly reduce self-prescription with antibiotics.

Categorical perception of color: evidence from secondary category boundary.

Despite a plethora of behavioral research exploring the phenomenon of color categorical perception (CP) known as "better discrimination between pair of colors stimuli from different categories and pair of colors stimuli from the same category even when the stimulus differences between the pairs of stimuli are equal", most of the evidence for the CP of color was derived from Roman or top-to-down script readers and very rarely from right-to-left script readers in primary category. To date, no studies of color CP have been conducted on right-to-left script readers in secondary category boundary to support this theory. Three experiments have been conducted: Experiments 1 and 2 established the Arabic blue-purple secondary category boundary, and Experiment 3 tested the CP of color in the blue-purple category boundary. Sixty participants (30 men and 30 women) took part in this study. All spoke Arabic as their first language, and all were undergraduate or postgraduate students at King Saud University. Their ages ranged from 18-35 years with a mean age of 21.9 years (SD =5.2). The result indicated that for Experiments 1 and 2, it appeared that the Arabic blue-purple category boundary was approximately 10PB and it is in the same location as for English. For Experiment 3, reaction times in the between-categories condition were significantly faster than those in the within-category condition; this suggested that CP of color was shown in the Arabic's blue-purple secondary category boundary.

An experimental study of gender and cultural differences in hue preference.

This paper investigates the influence of both gender and culture on color preference. Inspection of previous studies of color preference reveals that many of these studies have poor control over the colors that are shown-the chromatic co-ordinates of colors are either not noted or the illuminant that colors are shown under is not controlled. This means that conclusions about color preference are made using subjective terms for hue with little knowledge about the precise colors that were shown. However, recently, a new quantitative approach to investigating color preference has been proposed, where there is no need to summarize color preference using subjective terms for hue (Hurlbert and Ling, 2007; Ling and Hurlbert, 2007). This approach aims to quantitatively summarize hue preference in terms of weights on the two channels or "cardinal axes" underlying color vision. Here I further extend Hurlbert and Ling's (2007) approach to investigating color preference, by replicating their study but with Arabic and English participants, and to answer several questions: First, are there cultural differences in the shape of the overall preference curve for English and Arabic participants? Second, are there gender differences in the shape of the overall preference curve for English and Arabic participants? Thirty eight British and 71 Saudi Arabian (Arabic) participants were compared. Results revealed that Arabic and English preference curves were found to differ, yet there was greater similarity for Arabic and English males than Arabic and English females. There was also a sex difference that was present for both Arabic and English participants. The male curve is fairly similar for both samples: peak-preference is in the blue-green region, and a preference minimum is in the red-pink/purple region. For Arabic females the preference peak appears to be in the red-pink region, whilst for English females it is shifted toward purple/blue-green.

A case of pancreatitis, panniculitis and polyarthritis syndrome: Elucidating the pathophysiologic mechanisms of a rare condition.

Pancreatitis-Panniculitis-Polyarthritis (PPP) syndrome is rare and its physiopathology unclear. A 6-year old boy suffered of traumatic pancreatitis complicated by PPP syndrome. Extensive investigations demonstrated high levels of pancreatic lipase and fatty acids in the affected peripheral tissues. These findings support the sequence of peripheral lipolysis and fatty acid accumulation inducing tissue inflammation.