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Growing evidence supports a role of gut-derived metabolites in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but the relation of endotoxin levels with gut permeability and NAFLD stage remains unclear. This systematic review with meta-analysis aims to provide further insights. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched for studies published until January 2022 assessing blood endotoxins in patients with NAFLD. Meta-analyses and univariate/multivariate meta-regression, as well as correlation analyses, were performed for endotoxin values and potential relationships to disease stage, age, sex, parameters of systemic inflammation, and metabolic syndrome, as well as liver function and histology. Forty-three studies were included, of which 34 were used for meta-analyses. Blood endotoxin levels were higher in patients with simple steatosis vs liver-healthy controls (standardized mean difference, 0.86; 95% confidence interval, 0.62–1.11) as well as in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis vs patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver/non-nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (standardized mean difference, 0.81; 95% confidence interval, 0.27–1.35; P =.0078). Consistently, higher endotoxin levels were observed in patients with more advanced histopathological gradings of liver steatosis and fibrosis. An increase of blood endotoxin levels was partially attributed to a body mass index rise in patients with NAFLD compared with controls. Nevertheless, significant increases of blood endotoxin levels in NAFLD retained after compensation for differences in body mass index, metabolic condition, or liver enzymes. Increases in blood endotoxin levels were associated with increases in C-reactive protein concentrations, and in most cases, paralleled a rise in markers for intestinal permeability. Our results support blood endotoxin levels as relevant diagnostic biomarker for NAFLD, both for disease detection as well as staging during disease progression, and might serve as surrogate marker of enhanced intestinal permeability in NAFLD. Registration number in Prospero: CRD42022311166 [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International education offers transformative potential for personal and professional growth. Yet, navigating a new culture can be challenging due to language barriers and cultural differences. This longitudinal research delves into the potential of cultural empathy in promoting adjustment-related well-being of international students, particularly through enhancing their intercultural communication competence (ICC). Drawing upon the Process Model of Intercultural Competence and the Integrated Model of Intercultural Communication Competence, the current study (1) examines the interrelations of English Proficiency, Behavioral Flexibility, Ease of Interactions, Communication Effectiveness, and Communication Appropriateness as factors underlying a higher-order construct of communicative competence; and (2) explores the cross-temporal associations between cultural empathy, the five factors of ICC, and the psychosocial adjustment of international students to their host country. Students from a western Canadian university (N = 213) participated in the current study, who were surveyed three times over a 7-month period. The findings from confirmatory factor analysis underscore the integral role of interaction comfort, as well as effective and appropriate intercultural communication in fostering ICC. The random-intercept cross-lagged panel models reveal differential associations between cultural empathy, psychosocial adjustment, and the ICC factors, highlighting the merits of examining ICC in its constituent elements, as well as the importance of harbouring empathic, effective, and appropriate intercultural communication in cultivating positive intercultural experiences for international students. Together, the present findings provide insights for (1) advancing research on intercultural competence, and (2) developing initiatives in building a more empathic and inclusive global community that welcomes and supports international students in their sojourn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic's differential impact on ethnic minorities, immigrants, and Indigenous people (e.g., mortality and infection rate, as well as psychological well-being) may exacerbate existing disparities. This study examined perceived threat as a psychological mechanism to explain the apparently more negative emotional experiences of ethnic minority Canadians during the pandemic compared with non-immigrant European Canadians (i.e., the majority/mainstream ethno-cultural group). We investigated group differences in negative affect and three possible threat mechanisms (perceived health, material, and cultural threat) for these differences using an online survey completed by a self-selected Canadian sample (N = 1,918). The results suggest that compared to the non-immigrant European Canadian group, ethnic minority members, immigrants, and Indigenous people have on average perceived higher levels of pandemic threat, which in turn is associated with negative affect. These findings support the hypothesis that the amount of threat perceived by different groups during the pandemic might partially explain reported group differences in well-being. • A national-wide survey of Canadian adults focused on perceived COVID-related threats and their possible link to well-being. • The immigrant minority group perceived more health, material, and cultural threats than non-immigrant European Canadians. • The non-immigrant minority group perceived more health threat than non-immigrant European Canadians. • The Indigenous group perceived more cultural threat than non-immigrant European Canadians. • Threat perceptions partially explain group differences in well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While upward social comparison can inspire and provide information for self-improvement, it can also threaten one's self-confidence. This study examines how upward comparisons with "native speakers" relate to self-confidence and adaptation of migrant students who speak English as a second language, and the role of language mindsets in this process. Study 1 (n = 322) showed that the majority of migrant university students (67 %) tend to compare themselves with native speakers or people with higher levels of English proficiency (i.e., upward comparison), but those with fixed (vs. growth) mindsets were less likely to do so. Study 2 (n = 101) showed that when migrant students compared to native speakers (vs. control), they reported lower level of confidence. However, some negative effects of social comparison were buffered by growth mindsets, such that people with growth (vs. fixed) mindsets were less anxious and more confident to adapt to their academic environment. These findings suggest the "native speaker standard" has detrimental effects on linguistic-minority students' language, social, and academic adaptations, but a growth mindset might mitigate some of these negative effects. • Most migrant students in North America compare themselves to "native English speakers." • The "native speaker standard" undermines migrants' emotion and adaptation. • Growth mindsets buffer some negative effects, specifically on language anxiety and academic adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Language mindsets guide people to make sense of their experiences in intercultural contexts. • Trait and experimentally-induced language mindsets predicted support for migrants' integration. • Fixed (vs. growth) mindsets led to negative judgments about immigrants' language potential. • Judgment of potential predicted contact avoidance and opposition to integration programs. • Growth language mindsets promote positive intercultural relations. People rely on their lay theories, or mindsets, to make meaning of their experience in intercultural contact. Given that proficiency in the local language is a crucial social marker of immigrants' integration, we argue that language mindsets (i.e., beliefs about whether language learning ability is fixed or changeable) guide members of the receiving society to make inferences about immigrants' language ability (e.g., "can immigrants improve their language ability?"). This social inference, in turn, predicts their willingness to interact with immigrants and support immigrants' language education. In a correlational study (n = 231) and an experimental study (n = 106), we investigated whether and how language mindsets influence participants' support for immigrants' intercultural contact. We found that trait and experimentally-induced fixed (vs. growth) mindsets led to negative judgments of immigrants' potential to develop their skills in the local language, which in turn predicted avoidance of contact with migrants and opposition to governmental funding of immigrants' language education. The effects held even after controlling for participants' political orientations, perceived difficulties of the English language, and judgments of target immigrants' language fluency. These findings suggest that promoting growth mindsets about language ability can lead to more positive intercultural attitudes that impact the acceptance of migrants. We discussed the implications of language mindsets for understanding the processes of intercultural communication and forming positive intercultural relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined English Canadians' stereotypes concerning eight ethnic minority groups and the implications of these stereotypes for ideologies regarding the acculturation of those ethnic groups in Canadian society as well as attitudes regarding immigration to Canada more generally. Questionnaires were collected from 129 English-speaking European Canadians measuring stereotypes and acculturation ideologies toward each of the eight ethnic minority groups, and a general immigration attitudes measure. Results indicated that ethnic minority groups cluster together based on varying degrees of competence and warmth stereotypes, with some groups being perceived ambivalently. Specifically, Chinese and French Canadians were perceived as high in competence and moderate in warmth, but the converse was true for Jamaicans and Filipinos. East Indians, Pakistanis, and Somalis were perceived as moderate and Aboriginal Canadians as low in warmth and competence. Perceived normative beliefs about status and competition were associated with both competence and warmth of the ethnic groups. Stronger perceived competence of and lower perceived competition from the ethnic groups were directly associated with greater support of immigration and indirectly associated with stronger orientation towards integration of ethnic minorities into Canadian society. The results are discussed with regards to better understanding the intricacies of stereotype content, as well as the importance of stereotypes in encouraging integration of ethnic minorities in multicultural societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]