Tell me what you eat and I will tell you your sociotype: coping with diabesity

Natural intelligence and the 'economy' of social emotions: A connection with AI sentiment analysis

By approaching the concept of Natural Intelligence a new path may be open in a variety of theoretical and applied problems on social emotions. There is no doubt that intelligence emerges as a biological/informational phenomenon, although paradoxically a consistent elaboration of that concept has been missing. Regarding emotions, they have been keeping an unclear status, being often restricted to the anthropological or to ethological approaches closer to the behaviorist paradigm. Herein we propose a different track, centered in the life cycle advancement. The life cycle in its integrity becomes the nucleus of natural intelligence's informational processes, including the consistent expression of emotions along the maximization of fitness occasions. In human societies, the overall 'economy' of social emotions is manifest, showing up in the conspicuous interplay between bonding processes and different classes of social emotions. The essential link between natural intelligence, emotions, and the life cycle of individuals may harmonize with current progresses - and blind spots - of artificial intelligence fields such as 'sentiment analysis.'

Food Security and Nutrition as the Neglected Missing Links in Cultural Evolution: The Role of the Sociotype

Food security and nutrition were major drivers of cultural evolution by enabling sociotypic development and communal living after the Neolithic agricultural revolution some 12,000 years ago. The sociotype unites concepts from the sciences and the humanities; in concert with the genotype it determines an individual's phenotype (observable traits and behavior), and together they advance societal culture. As such, the sociotype relates to an individual's dynamic interactions with the surrounding social environment throughout life and comprises three domains: the Individual, Relationships, and Context. Nutrition affects each domain, respectively, by ensuring the following dimensions of food security: utilization (metabolic fuel and health); accessibility (physical and economic); and availability (the right to nutritious food for all citizens). The sociotype is influenced by multiple factors, including diet-gene interactions, allostasis, microbiota, oxytocin, and culturally through mate selection, family bonds, social communication, political ideologies, and values. Food security, sociotypes, and culture form a complex adaptive system to enable coping with the circumstances of life in health and disease, to achieve sustainable development, and to eradicate hunger. The current geopolitical unrest highlights the absolutely critical role of this system for global security, yet many challenges remain in implementing this paradigm for society. Therefore, sustainable food security must be considered a fundamental human right and responsibility for safeguarding the survival and progress of the sociotypes of humankind (Homo culturus) worldwide.

An ethnocultural perspective on loneliness in young adulthood: A population-based study in Israel

Young adults are a high-risk group for experiencing loneliness. We examine (1) the prevalence of loneliness among young adults in three ethnocultural groups in Israel: native Jews, former Soviet Union immigrants and Arabs; (2) the associations between loneliness and ethnicity, perceived poverty, physical and mental health, perceived discrimination, social capital and online social capital; (3) the distinct sensitivity of the three ethnocultural groups to the determinants of loneliness. Cross-sectional representative data for individuals aged 20-34 were taken from the 2016 to 2017 Israeli Social Surveys (N = 4253). Hierarchical logistic models were estimated to predict loneliness. Differences in the prevalence of loneliness were observed among the groups, with immigrants at higher risk. We found both common and distinct risk factors among the groups and only little evidence for moderation. Ethnic differences in loneliness between the native Jews and the Arabs can be ascribed to differences in their demographic characteristics and the prevalence of other risk factors. The risk for loneliness remained higher for immigrants after controlling for the entire set of risk factors. Eliminating the possibility that immigrants are more sensitive to any risk factor considered suggests the effect of ethnicity per se or rather that other factors affect loneliness in young immigrant adults.

Coping with the Challenges of COVID-19 Using the Sociotype Framework: A Rehearsal for the Next Pandemic

The world, as a global village, is currently taking part in a real-time public health, medical, socio-cultural, and economic experiment on how best to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures. Depending on the time from the outbreak, strategies have ranged from minimal intervention to mitigation by quarantine for high-risk groups (elderly with chronic illnesses) to containment and lockdown. Adherence to such restrictions have depended on the individual and national psyche and culture. One can understand and forgive governments for being over-cautious, but not for being ill-prepared. It seems that Singapore after SARS (2003) and South Korea after MERS (2015) learnt from their experiences and have fared relatively well with minimal disruption to daily routines. Coping with the challenge of COVID-19 is an urgent global task. We use the Sociotype ecological framework to analyze different coping responses at three levels: Context (government and leadership, social context, health services, and media); Relationships; and the Individual. We describe the many negative outcomes (e.g. mortality [obviously], unemployment, economic damage, food insecurity, threat to democracy, claustrophobia) and the positive ones (e.g. new, remote teaching, working, and medical routines; social bonding and solidarity; redefining existential values and priorities) of this surreal situation, which is still evolving. We highlight the importance of humor in stress reduction. Regular and reliable communication to the public has to be improved, acknowledging incomplete data, and learning to deal with fake news, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. Excess mortality is the preferred statistic to follow and compare outcomes. When the health risks are over, the economic recovery responses will vary according to the financial state of countries. If world order is to be reshaped, then a massive economic aid plan should be launched by the rich countries-akin to the Marshall plan after the Second World War. It should be led preferably by the USA and China. The results of the tradeoffs between health and economic lockdowns will only become apparent in the months to come. The experiences and lessons learned from this emergency should be used as a rehearsal for the next epi-/pandemic, which will surely take place in the foreseeable future.

Fundamental, Quantitative Traits of the "Sociotype"

In whatever domain of life, from cells to organisms to societies, communicative exchanges underlie the formation and maintenance, and decay, of the emerging collective structures. It can be clearly seen in the human social world. The different classes of social bonds in a complex society revolve around, and are intimately related with, the communicative relationships that every individual entertains-essentially via face-to-face conversation. In the present work we have investigated the fundamental metrics of both social bonds and communicative exchanges along the development of the "sociotype" construct. It is a new approach developed by the authors within the genotype-phenotype-sociotype conceptual triad. The sociotype means the relative constancy, or better the similar fabric, of the social world in which each individual life is developed. In order to ascertain the metrics of the fundamental quantitative traits inherent in the sociotype, a fieldwork involving a total of 1475 individuals (68.59% female, and 49.79 mean age, SD = 21.47) was carried out. The four relational realms of family, friends, work/study, and acquaintances were investigated. The overall results about conversation time (an average of 220 min/day), and about the number of social bonds (an average of 98), differ from previous assumptions, such as Dunbar's number or Killworth's number. Other results about gender, age, and use of social media and Internet contribute to highlight significant differences among the different social segments, and particularly the diminished "sociotype" of the elderly. Finally, it is curious that a non-Gaussian distribution has been obtained for the specific population allotment of these metrics, and intriguingly the Planckian distribution equation (PDE) appears to be a most cogent fit.

Coping With Food Insecurity Using the Sociotype Ecological Framework

Ensuring Food Security (FS) for all citizens is a fundamental human right and policy for all countries. Dealing with Food Insecurity (FINS) is a challenge causing stress at many levels-national, household, and individual. The conceptual framework of the Sociotype has been developed as a summary ecological construct to organize the multiple, dynamic, reciprocal inputs from the environment that interact with the genotype to determine the expression of phenotypic behaviors such as coping with stress. The Sociotype ecological framework has three domains-Individual (intra-personal), Relationships (inter-personal, family and community), and Context (environment, national)-and their interactions determine an individual's resilience across the life trajectory from birth to old age. We have applied the principles of the Sociotype to classify both the stresses of, and the coping strategies to, FINS. The stresses of FINS may occur at any place along the FS pathway-Availability, Accessibility, Utilization, and Stability. The elicited coping responses may take place in one or more of the three Sociotype domains. The two processes are inter-related linearly with re-iterative feedback loops such that stress leads to coping responses that may or may not be adequate, thereby requiring modifications in the coping strategies until FS is regained. Resilience is considered to represent long-term coping strategies. The Sociotype framework is both a determinant of, and constant input to, building and strengthening resilience. However, the people with the most problems with FINS are rarely included in these discussions. They are the marginalized members of society: unemployed, homeless, displaced persons, special needs, elderly, single parents, mentally frail, and more. Applying the Sociotype ecological framework for coping with FINS stresses can allow better strategic planning for FS at national, household and individual levels and understanding the interactions between them to reach out to and help these sectors of the population.

Epigenetic Programming of Synthesis, Release, and/or Receptor Expression of Common Mediators Participating in the Risk/Resilience for Comorbid Stress-Related Disorders and Coronary Artery Disease

Corticotrophin releasing factor, vasopressin, oxytocin, natriuretic hormones, angiotensin, neuregulins, some purinergic substances, and some cytokines contribute to the long-term modulation and restructuring of cardiovascular regulation networks and, at the same time, have relevance in situations of comorbid abnormal stress responses. The synthesis, release, and receptor expression of these mediators seem to be under epigenetic control since early stages of life, possibly underlying the comorbidity to coronary artery disease (CAD) and stress-related disorders (SRD). The exposure to environmental conditions, such as stress, during critical periods in early life may cause epigenetic programming modifying the development of pathways that lead to stable and long-lasting alterations in the functioning of these mediators during adulthood, determining the risk of or resilience to CAD and SRD. However, in contrast to genetic information, epigenetic marks may be dynamically altered throughout the lifespan. Therefore, epigenetics may be reprogrammed if the individual accepts the challenge to undertake changes in their lifestyle. Alternatively, epigenetics may remain fixed and/or even be inherited in the next generation. In this paper, we analyze some of the common neuroendocrine functions of these mediators in CAD and SRD and summarize the evidence indicating that they are under early programming to put forward the theoretical hypothesis that the comorbidity of these diseases might be epigenetically programmed and modified over the lifespan of the individual.

The "sociotype" construct: Gauging the structure and dynamics of human sociality

Exploring the pertinence of a "sociotype" construct, established along the conceptual chain genotype-phenotype-sociotype, is the essential purpose of the present paper. Further, by following the sociotype's conceptual guidelines, a new psychometric indicator has been developed in order to gauge the level of social interaction around each individual-the sociotype questionnaire (SOCQ). A first version of this questionnaire has been elaborated by gathering data about the different classes of social bonds (family, friends, acquaintances, and work/study colleagues) in general population and about the dynamic update of these bonds via face-to-face conversation and other modes of interaction. A specific fieldwork was undertaken, involving 1,075 participants, all of them Spanish adults (with diverse social and regional backgrounds). The data obtained were analyzed by means of the correlational method with an analytical cross-sectional design: the number of factors and the consistency and reliability of the resulting scales were evaluated and correlated. The new sociotype indicator resulting from that fieldwork, in spite of its limitations, seems to be valid and reliable, as well as closely associated with widely used metrics of loneliness and psychological distress. It is interesting that the construct noticeably varies throughout the life course and circumstances of individuals, based on their gender and age, and adjusting to the different situations of social networking. This is the first study, to the best of our knowledge, which has tried to reach both a theoretical and an operational formulation of the sociotype construct, by establishing an ad hoc psychometric questionnaire. We think that the information provided by this operational definition opens a new direction of work that could be useful to guide the development and evaluation of programs aimed at improving and strengthening social networking in people at risk, especially for the elderly.

Food security and sustainability: can one exist without the other?

OBJECTIVE

To position the concept of sustainability within the context of food security.

DESIGN

An overview of the interrelationships between food security and sustainability based on a non-systematic literature review and informed discussions based principally on a quasi-historical approach from meetings and reports.

SETTING

International and global food security and nutrition.

RESULTS

The Rome Declaration on World Food Security in 1996 defined its three basic dimensions as: availability, accessibility and utilization, with a focus on nutritional well-being. It also stressed the importance of sustainable management of natural resources and the elimination of unsustainable patterns of food consumption and production. In 2009, at the World Summit on Food Security, the concept of stability/vulnerability was added as the short-term time indicator of the ability of food systems to withstand shocks, whether natural or man-made, as part of the Five Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security. More recently, intergovernmental processes have emphasized the importance of sustainability to preserve the environment, natural resources and agro-ecosystems (and thus the overlying social system), as well as the importance of food security as part of sustainability and vice versa.

CONCLUSIONS

Sustainability should be considered as part of the long-term time dimension in the assessment of food security. From such a perspective the concept of sustainable diets can play a key role as a goal and a way of maintaining nutritional well-being and health, while ensuring the sustainability for future food security. Without integrating sustainability as an explicit (fifth?) dimension of food security, today's policies and programmes could become the very cause of increased food insecurity in the future.

Laugh Away the Fat? Therapeutic Humor in the Control of Stress-induced Emotional Eating

This review explores the potential overlap between the fields of nutrition and therapeutic humor, together with the role of humor as a possible tool for aiding those in whom emotions, particularly negative ones, trigger eating as a means to improve mood. We review emotional eating, obesity, and the hypothesized mechanisms of emotional eating. We then review the field of therapeutic humor and its ability to de-stress individuals, possibly through endorphin and opioid systems, both of which are also involved in eating behavior. Finally, we present a novel hypothesis that people may be trained to use humor as a "food substitute" at best, or to blunt hunger stimuli, to achieve similar advantages, without the side effect of weight gain.