stress

y comparing identical twins, who share the same genetic material, to fraternal twins, who are, on average, like other siblings in terms of the genetic material they share, researchers can determine whether risk factors such as high blood pressure and insulin levels are due to genetics or environmental factors.They believe the cumulative impact of stressful environments will predict cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes.

Industry officials note that there are several reasons why depressed and stressed workers might have higher health care costs. Depression and stress may cause patients to seek care for vague physical complaints; psychological or social problems may lead to more serious health conditions; or depression or stress may be related to serious illness.

While the harmful effects of tobacco use are well-documented, there has been little research looking at the stressors associated with tobacco use among Indians.One of those stressors, or risk factors, is domestic violence, a serious problem in India.

study of 4,320 schoolchildren found that they tended to slip into generally unhealthful dietary practices as their lives grew more stressful. Rather than simply overeating in response, they munched more often on bad stuff while ignoring healthy ways to eat, says the report in the August issue of the journal Health Psychology.

Despite efforts to minimize the stress and emotional trauma that can be associated with heart surgery for children and their families, the study showed, for the first time, a clinically significant risk of PTSD after cardiac surgery in pediatric patients. According to Dr.

The social stressors used in the studies included babies being gently restrained by a stranger and the older children having to complete a frustrating task, interact with a teacher, or be evaluated. Social relationships with mothers and teachers were also found to influence alpha amylase levels.

Cohen's JAMA article was based on a paper commissioned by the Institute of Medicine to examine the evidence that stress influences major diseases. In the JAMA article, the authors consider the behavioral and biological mechanisms through which stress contributes to disease and weigh the results of studies that have examined whether stress plays a role in depression, cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS and cancer.

However, studies using the mouse model of MS, known as EAE, indicate that IFN-gamma can also have a protective effect. In a study appearing in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers from the University of Chicago describe a mechanism by which IFN-gamma protects mice from developing EAE

Published this month in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, the study also shows the unanticipated conclusion that children's natural killer cell function, part of the body's innate immune system, increases under chronic stress, unlike adults, whose function is decreased. See also:Health & MedicineMental Health ResearchChildren's HealthWorkplace HealthMind & BrainMental HealthStressDepressionReferenceHeat shock proteinPediatricsEmotional detachmentFatigue (physical)"These findings are somewhat surprising to me but also exciting because they show us possible new avenues for improving children's health," said Mary Caserta, M

Dozens of studies have shown that stress can alter the levels of certain biochemical markers in the body -- key players in the human immune response -- but scientists weren't sure those changes actually led to poorer health.Now, they seem convinced

ee also:Health & MedicineImmune SystemHealthy AgingDiseases and ConditionsMind & BrainMultiple SclerosisStressDisorders and SyndromesReferenceHuman parainfluenza virusesInfectious mononucleosisImmune systemNatural killer cellThe research, by a psychologist Mary Meagher from the College of Liberal Arts and an immunologist Jane Welsh from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M, shows that exposure to prolonged maternal separation during the first two weeks of life altered immune, endocrine and behavioral responses to acute "Theiler's virus" infection in mice. Theiler's virus attacks the central nervous system during the first few weeks of infection, which is accompanied by polio-like symptoms.

The study tested the effects of vitamin C on the adrenal function of laboratory animals subjected to stress, said P. Samuel Campbell, Ph

times greater odds for developing coronary heart disease than those with low or moderate stress. The authors suggest that treatment of anger and psychological stress may have a beneficial effect on slowing progression of prehypertension to hypertension and coronary heart disease.

A ten-year follow-up study of young men showed that those who had larger cardiovascular responses to stress in the lab, were more likely to contract hypertension later in life," says Dr. Sheila G.

A smoothly functioning hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal, or HPA, axis helps the body remain stable under physiological and psychological stress through the actions of three hormones. First, the brain portion called the hypothalamus secretes a hormone that stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete a second hormone.

his study was the first to link an exaggerated response to mental stress with signs of early heart disease in an apparently healthy group of people with brothers and sisters who had premature heart disease. Study participants who responded strongly to mental stress tests were likely to have silent coronary ischemia during exercise, indicating a lack of adequate blood flow to the heart

Treiber said MCG researchers have been following the African-American and European-American identical and fraternal twins for four years to determine how genetics and environment affect the twins' blood pressure at rest and in response to stress. When the twins started the study, their average age was 14; they will be 18, on average, as they start the new study.

women who had given birth during the last six weeks were asked to rate 85 potential stress factors on a scale of one to five, with higher scores indicating greater stress levels. The women were all married, had delivered a single, healthy, full-term baby without complications and had no major postnatal complications or underlying medical problems.

Wilson said several factors lead researchers to believe that proneness to stress is a risk factor for memory problems and not an early sign of disease. For example, while the level of distress does not appear to increase in old age, the changes in the brain related to memory problems and Alzheimer's disease do increase with age.

The researchers base their findings on analysis of gut tissue taken from rats subjected to either water avoidance stress, which involves placing the rat on a small platform surrounded by water, or sham stress for one hour a day for 10 consecutive days.The stress sessions were designed to mimic psychological stress to produce the type of effects that would be seen in the human gut.