To illustrate the nature of disgust, Dean McKay holds up an untarnished blue pen and poses a hypothetical: He found it buried in something foul and smelly (we’ll spare you), but he’s completely cleaned it.

“So I assure you it’s fine. Would you like to use it?” he asks, rhetorically. “You’d probably have great hesitancy.”

Such is the potency of disgust, says McKay, Ph.D., a Fordham psychology professor who studies its role in behavioral disorders. His work is part of a trend: After years of avoiding it—perhaps understandably—in their research, scholars are giving new attention to this often-irrational emotion that holds such powerful sway.

“There’s an increased recognition that disgust has been underappreciated in the value it has for understanding human behavior, and then also warrants further examination in the role it has in psychopathology,” McKay said.

His own work centers on disgust in conditions like childhood anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder. He’s in the early stages of devising therapies that target disgust, which is so well-hidden that usually people don’t even mention it when seeking help.

“We tend to not be terribly aware of the things that disgust us, except the most brutally obvious things,” he said.

That’s why disgust is understudied, he said. “In a lot of ways, clinicians have been guided first and foremost by what their clients report, or by what others around them report. It was difficult to see its relevance, and there wasn’t really a good theory that said, ‘Here’s why we might expect disgust to play a role in psychopathology.’”

McKay discovered that role while helping one of his patients deal with her contamination fears. Using a common approach, he asked her to touch various intimidating things—like a fresh, clean trash bag in a wastebasket—and rate her anxiety.

“She said to me, ‘I’m not anxious at all. I find it yucky,’” even though she had expected to be afraid, he said. Other objects brought the same reaction. Over and over, “she used the language of disgust to describe her experience and not fear,” McKay said.

After a survey of his other patients found that disgust at least played a part in their disorders, he delved further into the topic. Last year, in a study of children grappling with anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder, he found that disgust was somewhat mitigated by traditional therapies that help patients confront the things they fear.

But greater progress calls for new therapies tailored to disgust. McKay noted that fear and disgust involve entirely different bodily systems: Fear is governed by the amygdala—considered the “seat of fear”—and the sympathetic nervous system, which rev the body up into fight-or-flight mode. But disgust comes from the parasympathetic nervous system, which in this case relaxes the body to slow the absorption of any germs picked up from something yucky.

Disgust also involves the insula, a brain region associated with taste and gustatory responses (hence the “gust” in “disgust”). One possible therapy would help people acclimate themselves to the symptoms of disgust, like nausea, but much more research is needed, McKay said.

Disgust comes in different varieties, McKay said. Contamination fear, “the quintessential disgust problem,” can repel people from objects that are obviously clean, like an unused garbage bag or that blue pen he held up. Another variety of disgust, the law of similarity, spooks people when something looks too much like a disgusting object, as in the movie Caddyshack, in which a floating candy bar sends swimmers fleeing from a pool, he said.

Other disgust triggers are culturally specific—like, say, ice cream on steak, or sex acts considered abusive—or related to death or injury.

Then there’s the “stink of moral decay,” which prompts disgust because of the possible stigma it carries, McKay said. In one classic study, people refused to put on a sweater that, they were told, had once been worn by Adolf Hitler. (Even if it had been washed. And worn by Mother Teresa after that.)

This moral disgust was one aspect of a course he has recently co-taught with English professor Leonard Cassuto. The course, Literature and Psychology of Disgust, covered the influence of disgust in aesthetics, social stigma, prejudice, and racism, as shown in literature. “There’s a litany of books that deal with this,” McKay said.

In other research, he’s working on a project with another scientist who has found that disgust may play a role in some forms of posttraumatic stress, like the kind that follows sexual abuse. McKay also won a grant to study the role of disgust in misophonia, a disorder in which particular sounds cause intense emotional reactions.

He hopes to do more work on trauma and disgust now that disgust is reasonably well established as a research topic.

“I think it’s changing a little bit and gaining a little bit more acceptability,” McKay said. “We’re now at a point where some of those basic questions have really been satisfactorily answered and so now it’s moving to a different realm.”

In a sample of nearly 6 million children born in California between 1997 and 2007, Christine Fountain, PhD and researchers from Columbia University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the incidence of autism was twice as high for ART births compared to non-ART births.

Their findings, which were published in the American Journal of Public Health in March, are part of the largest and most diverse study to date exploring the relationship between ART and autism.

“We were interested generally in the social factors behind the increase in autism diagnoses seen over the last decade,” said Fountain, an assistant professor of sociology. “One of the broad factors we looked at was parental age. That is where ART seemed to play a role, because ART allows women to push the upper age limits for childbearing.”

Autism spectrum disorder refers to a serious development disability marked by deficits in communication and social interaction. Currently, about 1 in 68 U.S. children have been diagnosed with a form of autism—a statistic that has increased rapidly over the last decade.

The precise causes and mechanisms of autism remain unclear, but scientists have identified several risk factors, including preterm birth, low birth weight, gestational diabetes, and other complications during pregnancy. The disorder has also been linked to certain parental characteristics, such as older parental age, higher socioeconomic status and education, and white race—characteristics that are also shared by many who use ART to conceive.

The researchers also found that the incidence of autism was much higher in ART children who were part of multiple births—twins, triplets, etc.—as opposed to singleton children. A significant number of ART conceptions result in multiple births because multiple embryos are transferred during the procedure to increase the chances of a successful pregnancy.

“In general, multiple births [whether conceived by ART or not]bring greater risks of complications during pregnancy, such as gestational diabetes, preterm birth, and low birth weight, which are also risks associated with autism,” Fountain said.

Fortunately, the team’s findings suggest a potential point of intervention to help reduce the risk of autism for families who use ART.

“When appropriate, transferring one embryo rather than multiples could be a way to reduce autism risk among ART-conceived children,” Fountain said. “However, we need more research in terms of understanding the actual mechanisms by which ART and autism are linked.”

Fountain’s next research study will be an analysis of ART-born children who have naturally conceived siblings. This, Fountain hopes, could help to isolate the biological factors from social and familial factors.

“Because many ART children come from families that are relatively well-off, it’s not surprising that there would be a higher rate of diagnosis than other children,” she said. “I’m hoping to untangle some of those social factors with this new study.”

“These kids are extremely talented,” says Rubin, PhD, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. “It’s just amazing.”

Indeed. If not for therapies Rubin helped develop, they might be virtually catatonic.

Rubin studies familial dysautonomia, or FD, a rare, life-shortening genetic disorder with symptoms so agonizing that those born with it often need to be heavily sedated. Since 2000, he and his colleagues have developed natural, over-the-counter treatments for its most debilitating symptoms, allowing hundreds of children to reclaim their lives without using costly drugs and suffering the side effects.

“They’re just brilliant, and they used to be entrapped in bodies that required that they be extremely sedated,” he said. “They were a shadow of what they are now.”

This success, however, poses a new challenge: addressing the osteoporosis that FD patients tend to develop at a young age. It’s a problem that drew attention when more FD patients started living longer, Rubin said: “Nobody worried about this, because most of the kids [with FD]didn’t make it out of their teenage years.”

His research is funded in part by a $48,000 grant secured by New York City Council member Andrew Cohen, the latest of many city grants for Rubin’s research since 2003.

That’s when then-council member G. Oliver Koppell began funding Rubin’s laboratory out of concern for one of his constituents, who suffered from FD. Afflicting hundreds of people worldwide, mostly Ashkenazi Jews, FD disrupts the autonomic nervous system, causing blood pressure spikes, strokes, vomiting, insensitivity to pain, and dry eyes that can lead to corneal abrasions.

Rubin and Fordham research associate Sylvia Anderson, PhD, identified diet restrictions and natural compounds—including tocotrienols, a form of Vitamin E—that allowed people with FD to quickly and dramatically improve.

Rubin and Anderson are taking the same type of approach to osteoporosis, looking for “nutraceutical” therapies to prevent the condition in anyone, not just those with FD. Rubin noted that current osteoporosis drugs are unsuited to the long-term treatment a youthful FD patient would need.

“It’s clear that diet plays a very strong role in the development of osteoporosis,” said Rubin, citing studies that show the difference that fruits and vegetables can make.

Comparisons by country also make the point: “When you look at a map of the world and you look at the incidence of osteoporosis, you can find in one country the incidence is five times higher than the country next to it. And you know all countries have different diets.”

At the same time, he said, “there’s a lack of understanding of which dietary components are having the effect and how to harness that information to help the population, and that’s really what we’re trying to do.”

He and his graduate students are testing hundreds of fruit, vegetable, and plant extracts in their laboratory at Larkin Hall, looking for those that might slow down the cells that weaken and degrade bone.

“We definitely have some that look promising,” he said.

Working on FD, he and his team have picked up hints of possible “nutraceutical” cures for a number of conditions: Fanconi anemia, spinal muscular atrophy, and Niemann-Pick disease and mucolipidosis, both of which are metabolic disorders.

One of Rubin’s graduate students, Faaria Fasih-Ahmad, is investigating beta thalassemia, a blood disorder related to FD that’s found in the Palestinian population.

“There’s a whole host of treatable genetic diseases out there,” Rubin said. With enough time and money, he said, “we could do a lot.”

That was the message during a March 4 talk at Fordham by Dr. Yvonne Cagle, a NASA astronaut who called on Fordham faculty and students to help answer the many research questions related to deep space exploration and colonization.

“There are so many spinoff areas of research,” said Cagle, a scientist, medical doctor, retired Air Force colonel, and visiting professor involved in a research collaborative between Fordham and NASA.

As an example, she noted the parallels between reconditioning the body after disease, injury, or illness and mitigating the effects of extraterrestrial jaunts measured in years rather than weeks.

In the absence of gravity, “the heart starts to decondition, your exercise tolerance goes down, your bones demineralize, your muscles start to atrophy,” she said. “Human physiology in space is very different than what we see here on earth.”

And then there’s human behavior, with its fractious side.

“Whatever man’s inhumanity to man that we are struggling with here, it’s not something we are going to be able to escape just because we stepped off-planet. Guess what? We’re probably going to bring that along with us,” she said. “So it behooves us to start looking and trying to reconcile those issues before we go off-planet, and there’s a good chance that what we solve or what we experience off-planet may be its own demonstration platform in teaching moments for us here, on earth, to learn a better way to love and care for each other.”

“Who better than Fordham University to lead that effort and that conversation,” she said, with its “long and illustrious history … [of]waving the banner and raising the bar for social justice, for harmonious community, and for civic responsibility.”

Cagle joined with Fordham last year to launch the Interdisciplinary Collaborative on Health, Environment, and Human Performance, which promotes research involving Fordham, NASA, and other institutions. The collaborative operates under the auspices of Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service (GSS).

Her talk was part of a panel discussion organized by GSS, the Office of Research, and Fordham’s Clare Boothe Luce Program, which works for greater participation by women in the sciences and engineering. The panel comprised professors of psychology, chemistry, biology, mathematics, biochemistry, and computer and information science—all of them women—who answered questions about how they built their careers.

During her talk, Cagle told a personal story about the first moon landing in 1969. She was impressed by the men who made the trip, but also by the woman, Katherine Johnson, who devised the mathematical calculations that their voyage depended on.

She ended with a call for Fordham’s professors and students to reach out to the research community that has sprung up around deep space travel.

“There are so many ways that we can bridge and interface and interact and connect, in ways that are already funded and resourced, in ways that can lead to panels, publications, posters, presentations, even grant applications,” she said. “The sky is no longer the limit, and possibility is endless.”

Now, a Fordham professor just may have cracked one of them.

Henry Han, Ph.D., has developed a novel method of identifying the genetic activity unique to complex diseases such as cancer. This “signal” holds out hope of overcoming a key barrier to obtaining cancer diagnoses from the treasure trove of genetics information developed in recent decades, said Han, and could “totally change” medicine.

“It’s so hard to (separate) the ‘noise’ from the true signals in big data. Previously, people didn’t know how to do that,” said Han, an associate professor in Fordham’s Department of Computer and Information Science.

For years, scientists found that although they could identify the genetic markers for different types of cancer, those markers differed from person to person, hindering the development of reproducible diagnostics and treatment, Han said.

New technologies known as RNA-Seq offer a possible solution by producing dramatically greater amounts of data about genes and RNA within a cell. But the data is “noisy” and hard to analyze, in part because of its sheer volume and because of errors that were baked into the data by the technology used to produce it.

In tackling this problem, Han devised an algorithm that relies on wavelets—a subtle tool for differentiating among pieces of genetic information and eliminating what he calls “red herrings” in the data.

Working with researchers from Columbia University and the University of California, San Diego, Han applied this algorithm to RNA-Seq data and found three “common denominator” genetic markers across multiple cases of breast cancer and prostate cancer, among other findings.

His research has been supported by National Institutes of Health grants, and he is seeking further funding to work with doctors and turn his computations into treatments that catch cancer or other diseases earlier than ever—that is, before symptoms even show up.

Reminder: the University is offering non-H1N1 influenza vaccine clinics at the Lincoln Center campus on Oct. 6 and 7. See “Influenza Vaccine Clinic Information.”

H1N1 Update
Thursday, September 24, 2009

The University is now seeing some cases of H1N1 influenza and influenza-like illnesses among students. The majority of ill students have gone home to recuperate with their families.

The emergency management council is closely monitoring the number of influenza-like illnesses to ensure Fordham’s response in personnel and material resources remains proportionate.

Kathleen Malara, director of student health services, is in daily contact with the Department of Health to stay informed of the infection rate citywide, and of the latest recommendations of health officials.

Regardless of the number of students, faculty or staff reporting flu-like illness, the best course of action is to follow the precautions and recommendations below.

Further updates will appear in this space as necessary.

——

The University has a comprehensive plan in place for prevention and treatment of the H1N1 strain of influenza. The plan has been updated by the emergency management team with guidance from various federal, local and higher education health organizations.

PREVENTION

•    Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing.
•    Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
•    Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze (hand sanitizers are also recommended).
•    Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth, since germs are spread this way.
•    Do get the influenza vaccine, available now on campus to students. An outside vendor will be administering vaccine to students, staff, and faculty in September on the Rose Hill campus and in early October at the Lincoln Center campus. (Likewise, the University is making plans to secure and offer H1N1 vaccine when it is approved and available.)

IF YOU BECOME ILL

If you experience a sudden onset within 24 hours, of fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, fatigue and/or vomiting and diarrhea, it is vitally important that you limit contact with others and seek medical attention:

•    Consult your health care provider immediately:

o    Students through the Health Center at (718) 817-4160 (Rose Hill) or (212) 636-7160 (Lincoln Center);
o    Faculty and staff through their private health care professionals.

•    Do not come to work nor attend class if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms.
•    Do not return to work or class until your fever is absent for 24 hours without Tylenol or Advil treatment. (Students are responsible for notifying their professors of any absences.)

EMERGENCY PLANNING OVERVIEW

At this time there are no plans to close the University or any of its campuses in the event of an H1N1 outbreak. The University has plans in place for various levels of H1N1 outbreaks, from very limited to extremely widespread. Those plans are summarized below—not every item applies to every level of outbreak.

The University has provided information on H1N1 prevention to students, faculty and staff: students were notified via e-mail and the University community was notified via Web release on August 28, “University Information for H1N1 Flu Prevention and Treatment,” and via Today at Fordham Spotlight.

The Health Center is stocked with equipment and supplies in preparation for any level of infection. University resources include expanded availability of health care professionals (including nurse practitioners for residence hall visits if necessary); vendor-supplied non-H1N1 influenza vaccine; increased cleaning and placement of hand sanitizers on walls outside community bathrooms in residence halls and academic buildings; and an appropriate supply of antiviral drug Tami-Flu for at-risk students.

The University also has access to additional Red Cross emergency equipment.

The University will be in close communication with parents of infected students. Those who live within a 150-mile radius will be sent home with their families to recuperate. In those situations in which families cannot make arrangements to bring their students home themselves due to extenuating circumstances, transportation will be provided, if necessary. Infected students who live outside the 150-mile radius will be isolated in place, either in their residence halls or in larger spaces, depending upon the number of students who require accommodation. The University will provide food to all students in isolation on campus.

The University Health Care Center and residential life staff will be in daily contact with sick students, either in person or via e-mail, text and telephone. If students contacting the Health Center by phone are experiencing flu-like symptoms, they may be advised to stay in their room for a “house call” by a nurse practitioner (the latter applies only to students in on-campus housing). Students in respiratory distress will immediately be taken to a local hospital.

Academic class deans will be contacted by Student Affairs regarding ill students’ status, and to coordinate excused absences as necessary. Anxiety over academic performance should not prevent sick students from going home; such excusals do not require a doctor’s note.

The Fordham community will be kept up to date via the emergency information line; e-mail blasts; the Everbridge text, e-mail and voice emergency notification system; cable TV announcements; system-wide campus telephone voicemail; Channel 3; public address systems; the University home page and WFUV radio station.

REFERENCES & CONTACTS

Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/flu

University Health Services
http://www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/student_services/student_health_servi/

Kathleen Malara
Director of Student Health Services
(718) 817-4160



John Carroll
Assistant Vice President for Safety and Security
(718) 817-2222



Christopher Rodgers
Dean of Students, Rose Hill
(718) 817-4755 



Keith Eldredge
Dean of Students, Lincoln Center
(212) 636-6250

Fordham’s Louis Calder Center, by permission of its director Dr. John Wehr, has been assisting in mosquito surveillance since the beginning of the crisis on September 7, 1999. The Calder Center ‘s ready, willing, and able manner has received national attention for all the time and expertise it has provided in addressing the recent health crisis.