Abstracts - Association for Chemoreception Sciences

P O S T E R S
#P244 POSTER SESSION V:
CENTRAL OLFACTION; CHEMOSENSORY
PSYCHOPHYSICS & CLINICAL STUDIES
Evaluation of Newborns’ Movement by Image Segmentation
while They Drink an Infant Formula
Rosa G. Herrera-Lee 1, 2 , Homero V. Rios-Figueroa 1 , Jesus O.
Angulo-Guerrero 2 , Julie A. Mennella 3 , Iñigo Verdalet-Guzman 1 ,
Takuo Nakano 4 , Lech Ozimek 4 , Eryck R. Silva-Hernandez 1
1
University of Veracruz Xalapa, Mexico, 2 Veracruz Institute of
Technology Veracruz, Mexico, 3 Monell Chemical Senses Center
Philadelphia, PA, USA, 4 University of Alberta Edmonton, AB,
Canada
Babies show their comfort or discomfort through facial
expressions, vocalizations and body movements. The objective of
the present study was to evaluate newborns’ movement while
they drink an infant formula using a technique called image
segmentation. Forty seven newborns were recruited in a local
hospital in Xalapa, Mexico. The study procedures were approved
by the Ethics Committee of the University of Veracruz, and
informed consent was obtained from each mother before the start
of the study. All available milk-based and soy based infant
formulas for 0 to 6 months old babies were selected. Nine
different brands of infant formulas were included in the study.
Each baby was randomly given two kinds of baby formula. All
sessions were video filmed. Each of the 94 videos were adjusted to
1 min long, and then fragmented into two frames per second.
A sequence program was developed in the Matlab R2008a
software. The program sets a background that stays constant
during the video sequence. The moving object, the newborn in
this case, is analyzed. The software identifies the skin color and
draws a digitalized figure of the newborn body. The resulting
image is processed pixel-based using differences in color between
skin and background. Two fundamental variables were measured,
the bounding box area and the movement speed. It was
determined that newborns moved faster when drinking soy-based
formulas, especially during the first 20 seconds of the video.
In addition, faster moving infants drank less volume of infant
formulas. This technique might be useful to identify emotions in
very young individuals, and to be applied in other areas such as
the identification of food preferences. Acknowledgements:
Thanks to CONACYT, PROMEP and the Government of
Veracruz State from Mexico for their support.
#P245 POSTER SESSION V:
CENTRAL OLFACTION; CHEMOSENSORY
PSYCHOPHYSICS & CLINICAL STUDIES
Factors Influencing Mothers’ Perceptions of their Infants’
Liking of a Green Vegetable
Catherine A. Forestell 1,2 , Julie A. Mennella 1
1
Monell Chemical Senses Center Philadelphia, PA, USA,
2
The College of William & Mary Williamsburg, VA, USA
Mothers’ perceptions of their infants’ liking of foods play an
important role in determining the types and variety of foods they
feed to their infant. These perceptions may be influenced not only
by the infants’ responses to foods, but also by various
characteristics of both mother and child. The goal of the present
study was to determine which factors impact maternal ratings of
infants’ acceptance of a green vegetable at the time of weaning
(5-10 months). To this end, 92 mother-infant dyads were tested
under naturalistic conditions in which the infants determined the
pace and duration of the feeding. Acceptance and liking of pureed
green beans were assessed using a variety of measures, including
amount and rate of consumption, and the frequency of facial
distaste expressions using the anatomically-based Facial Action
Coding system. At the end of each feed, mothers rated their
infants’ enjoyment of the food. Although maternal ratings were
not affected by socioeconomic status (e.g., mothers’ income,
education level), maternal BMI, or infant temperament, ratings
were lower for infants who rejected the food during the first five
spoon offers, showed more facial expressions of distaste, and ate
less food for a shorter period of time. When these factors were
entered into a stepwise multiple regression analyses, we found
that mothers’ ratings were primarily influenced by how long
their infants ate, and by the number of lip raises they made
during the feeding session. A better understanding of mothers’
interpretations will aid in the establishment of evidence-based
guidelines for feeding vegetables during infancy.
Acknowledgements: The project described was supported by
Award Number R01HD37119 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does
not necessarily represent the official views of the Eunice Kennedy
Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development or the National Institutes of Health.
#P246 POSTER SESSION V:
CENTRAL OLFACTION; CHEMOSENSORY
PSYCHOPHYSICS & CLINICAL STUDIES
A study examining the incidence of taste disorders in the
general population
Antje Welge-Luessen 1 , Patrick Doerig 1 , Franziska Krone 2 ,
Markus Wolfensberger 1
1
Dept. of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Basel Basel,
Switzerland, 2 Smell & Taste Clinic, University of Dresden Medical
School Dresden, Germany
Objective: In contrast to olfaction so far little is known about the
incidence of taste disorders in the general population. It was the
aim of our study to examine the incidence of taste disorders using
two different whole mouth tests.
Subjects and Methods: Altogether 761 subjects (297 male, 464
female, mean age: 36 years, range: 5 -89 years) took part in the
study. Whole mouth taste function was tested using both, taste
strips (dried filter papers, applied on tongue, four different
concentrations of sucrose, citric acid, sodium chloride and quinine
hydrochloride) and taste sprays (same substances, but higher
(above threshold) concentrations). Moreover, all subjects filled in
a questionnaire concerning their general health and evaluated their
subjective taste ability on a visual analogue scale.Results: Taste
sprays: 95% of all subjects correctly identified at least 3 out of 4
sprays, 7 subjects identified only 1 out of 4 sprays, 2 subjects
(1.2%) none. Taste strips: 95% identified more than 8 strips
correct, 5.3% scored below 8 and 9 subjects (1.2%) scored below
6. All of these were male, 2 in the age of 10 and 12 years, 4 older
than 50 years. Subjectively they all rated their taste function as
normal. While the two young boys also were unable to identify
the sprays correctly, only one of the older males had poor results
in both, sprays and taste strips. Subjective evaluation and
measured function did not correlate; moreover, regarding sex and
age women scored better than men and younger subjects better
than older ones. Conclusion: Taste disorders are rare. Complete
ageusia was not found in the examined population. Similar to the
situation in olfactory function subjects are unreliable to correctly
rate their taste function.
108 | AChemS Abstracts 2010 Abstracts are printed as submitted by the author(s)