New, previously unreported correlations between latent  Toxoplasma gondii  infection and excessive ethanol consumption

Samojłowicz, Dorota; Borowska-Solonynko, Aleksandra; Kruczyk, Marcin

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.09.009

Cited by 24 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Infection is associated with increased risk-taking behaviours, potentially due to hormonal or neurological changes resulting from encysted T. gondii in the brain [42]. Samojlowicz et al [21] found a significant, positive relationship between T. gondii infection and risky behaviours, including substance overdose, suicide, not wearing a helmet and alcohol consumption. Correspondingly, entrepreneurs tend to score higher in risk-taking (and lower in risk-avoidance), need for achievement and overconfidence [43].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risky business: linkingToxoplasma gondiiinfection and entrepreneurship behaviours across individuals and countries

et al. 2018

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Disciplines such as business and economics often rely on the assumption of rationality when explaining complex human behaviours. However, growing evidence suggests that behaviour may concurrently be influenced by infectious microorganisms. The protozoan infects an estimated 2 billion people worldwide and has been linked to behavioural alterations in humans and other vertebrates. Here we integrate primary data from college students and business professionals with national-level information on cultural attitudes towards business to test the hypothesis that infection influences individual- as well as societal-scale entrepreneurship activities. Using a saliva-based assay, we found that students ( = 1495) who tested IgG positive for exposure were 1.4× more likely to major in business and 1.7× more likely to have an emphasis in 'management and entrepreneurship' over other business-related emphases. Among professionals attending entrepreneurship events,-positive individuals were 1.8× more likely to have started their own business compared with other attendees ( = 197). Finally, after synthesizing and combining country-level databases on infection from the past 25 years with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor of entrepreneurial activity, we found that infection prevalence was a consistent, positive predictor of entrepreneurial activity and intentions at the national scale, regardless of whether previously identified economic covariates were included. Nations with higher infection also had a lower fraction of respondents citing 'fear of failure' in inhibiting new business ventures. While correlational, these results highlight the linkage between parasitic infection and complex human behaviours, including those relevant to business, entrepreneurship and economic productivity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risky business: linkingToxoplasma gondiiinfection and entrepreneurship behaviours across individuals and countries

et al. 2018

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“…Thereafter, 9,130 records were excluded through an initial screening of the titles and/or abstracts. The remaining 85 full-text articles were assessed, out of which 27 studies were further compared against our inclusion criteria (Akgül, 2019;Alvarado-Esquivel et al, 2015;Alvarado-Esquivel et al, 2013;Ansari-Lari et al, 2017;Arling et al, 2009;Bak et al, 2018;Burgdorf et al, 2019;Coccaro et al, 2016;Coryell et al, 2016;Dickerson et al, 2018;Dickerson et al, 2017;Ene et al, 2016;Fond et al, 2015;Fond et al, 2018;Gale et al, 2016;Okusaga et al, 2011;Pedersen et al, 2012;Samojlowicz et al, 2013;Samojłowicz et al, 2017;Sapmaz et al, 2019;Sari & Kara, 2019;Sugden et al, 2016;Yagmur et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2012). Finally, 26 data sets from the 25 records were included in this meta-analysis ( Figure 1).…”

Section: Study Characteristics and Search Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The two other papers were non-comparative due to the lack of detailed information concerning the rate of T. gondii IgG antibodies to suicide, but no for IgM; therefore, they were ruled out of the quantitative analysis (Dickerson et al, 2017(Dickerson et al, , 2018. Information and characteristics of the selected studies which were included in the review are summarized in Tables 1 and 2. Out of 27 included studies, 12 articles were case-control studies (Alvarado-Esquivel et al, 2015;Alvarado-Esquivel et al, 2013;Ansari-Lari et al, 2017;Arling et al, 2009;Bak et al, 2018;Burgdorf et al, 2019;Coryell et al, 2016;Samojlowicz et al, 2013;Samojłowicz et al, 2017;Sari & Kara, 2019;Yagmur et al, 2010), 11 studies were cross-sectional (Akgül, 2019;Coccaro et al, 2016;Dickerson et al, 2017;Ene et al, 2016;Fond et al, 2015;Gale et al, 2016;Okusaga et al, 2011;Sapmaz et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2012), and four were cohort studies (Dickerson et al, 2018;Fond et al, 2018;Pedersen et al, 2012;Sugden et al, 2016) (Table 1). As displayed in Table 2 for anti-T. gondii IgG, our meta-analysis of the 26 included data sets was performed on 64,159 individuals, including 3,804 patients with suicide disorders and 60,355 controls.…”

Section: Study Characteristics and Search Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of available data, the majority of the studies used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to identify anti-Toxoplasma antibodies (IgG and IgM) (Akgül, 2019;Ansari-Lari et al, 2017;Burgdorf et al, 2019;Coccaro et al, 2016;Coryell et al, 2016;Fond et al, 2015;Gale et al, 2016;Samojłowicz et al, 2017;Sapmaz et al, 2019;Sari & Kara, 2019;Yagmur et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2012). In those studies, EIA (Alvarado-Esquivel et al, 2013Arling et al, 2009;Dickerson et al, 2017Dickerson et al, , 2018Ene et al, 2016;Fond et al, 2018;Okusaga et al, 2011;Pedersen et al, 2012;Sugden et al, 2016),…”

Section: Study Characteristics and Search Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Available data suggest that a positive T. gondii antibody titre is probably linked to affective and behavioural changes, as demonstrated in animal and human models (Duffy et al, 2015) (Flegr, 2007;Mann, 2003;Webster, 2001Webster, , 2007. Although some available findings demonstrated a hypothesized relationship between suicide rates and T. gondii infection (Akgül, 2019;Bak et al, 2018;Burgdorf et al, 2019;Pedersen, Mortensen, Norgaard-Pedersen, & Postolache, 2012;Samojłowicz, Borowska-Solonynko, & Kruczyk, 2017;Sapmaz, Şen, Özkan, & Kandemir, 2019;Yagmur, Yazar, Temel, & Cavusoglu, 2010), contradictory results also exist in this regard (Alvarado-Esquivel et al, 2015;Alvarado-Esquivel et al, 2013;Ansari-Lari, Farashbandi, & Mohammadi, 2017;Arling et al, 2009;Coccaro et al, 2016;Coryell et al, 2016;Fond et al, 2015;Fond et al, 2018;Gale, Berrett, Brown, Erickson, & Hedges, 2016;Samojlowicz, Borowska-Solonynko, & Golab, 2013;Sari & Kara, 2019;Sugden et al, 2016;Yolken & Torrey, 2008;Zhang et al, 2012). For SA, we updated the findings of the previous meta-analysis (Sutterland et al, 2019), apart from the inclusion of more databases and articles on SA in an attempt to improve the statistical power to assess the association between T. gondii infection and SA.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Evolutionary puzzle of Toxoplasma gondii with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Amouei

Moosazadeh

Nayeri

et al. 2020

Transbound Emerg Dis

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The World Health Organization has reported an annual global suicide rate of 14.5 per 100,000 people. On the other hand, it is estimated that approximately one‐third of the global population are infected with Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) parasite. It is widely assumed that microbial pathogens, such as T. gondii, are probably associated with affective and behavioural modulation. The present article aimed to assess the proposed role of toxoplasmosis in raising the risk of suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA) using the available epidemiological data. Seven major electronic databases and the Internet search engine Google were searched for all the studies published between the 1st of January 1950 and 31st of October 2019. The heterogeneity and the risk of bias within and across studies were assessed. Following data extraction, pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) across studies were calculated using the random‐effects models. A total number of 9,696 articles were screened and 27 studies were regarded as eligible in our systematic review (SI with five papers and 22 papers on SA). A significant association was detected between antibodies against T. gondii with TA (ORs = 1.57; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.23–2.00, p = .000). Exploration of the association between T. gondii and SA yielded a positive effect of seropositivity for IgG antibodies but not IgM. Despite the limited number of studies, a statistical association was detected between suicidal behaviours and infection with latent T. gondii.

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Presence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in brain as a potential cause of risky behavior: a report of 102 autopsy cases

Samojłowicz

Twarowska-Małczyńska

Borowska-Solonynko

et al. 2018

Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis

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Toxoplasmosis was linked to impairment in brain function, encompassing a wide range of behavioral and neuropsychiatric changes. Currently, the precise localization of Toxoplasma gondii in the human brain is limited and the parasite DNA was not found in population-based screening of autopsy cases. The aim of proposed study was to identify the presence of parasite DNA within the brain and its association with risky behavior and alcohol consumption in postmortem examination. Preliminarily, 102 cases with certain circumstances of death at time of forensic autopsy was included. Due to high risk of bias, the females were excluded from the analysis and final study group consists 97 cases divided into three groups: risky behavior, inconclusively risky behavior, and control group. The obtained tissue samples for Nested PCR covered four regions of the brain: symmetric left/right and anterior/posterior horns of lateral ventricles comprising lining ependyma and hippocampus. The second type of material comprised blood evaluated for antibodies prevalence using ELISA and alcohol concentration using HS-GC-FID. Analysis demonstrated 16.5% prevalence concerning the parasite DNA presence in examined brain tissue samples without specific distribution and association with age at death or days after death until an autopsy was performed. Results have shown correlation between occurrence of risky behavior leading to death and higher proportions of positive parasite DNA presence within the brain. Correlation was not observed between parasite DNA presence and excessive alcohol consumption. Conducted screening demonstrated correlation between parasite DNA presence in the brain with risky behavior and provided new information on possible effects of latent toxoplasmosis.

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New, previously unreported correlations between latent Toxoplasma gondii infection and excessive ethanol consumption

Cited by 24 publications

References 24 publications

Risky business: linkingToxoplasma gondiiinfection and entrepreneurship behaviours across individuals and countries

Risky business: linkingToxoplasma gondiiinfection and entrepreneurship behaviours across individuals and countries

Evolutionary puzzle of Toxoplasma gondii with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Presence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in brain as a potential cause of risky behavior: a report of 102 autopsy cases

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