Protocol for a pilot study assessing a virtual mindfulness intervention for postpartum African American women.

Elevated perinatal depressive symptoms are more common among disadvantaged African American women, and they are almost four times as likely to have postpartum posttraumatic stress compared to white women. For new mothers, depressive symptoms and posttraumatic stress can lead to negative parenting, poor mother-infant bonding, and delayed infant development. For African American women, a culturally adapted mindfulness-based intervention offers great potential as an acceptable approach to reduce psycho-behavioral symptoms and improve mother-infant interactions (i.

Impact of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program on Psychological Well-Being, Cortisol, and Inflammation in Women Veterans.

Background: Women veterans experience higher levels of stress-related symptoms than their civilian counterparts. Psychological stress is associated with greater inflammation and may increase risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been found to improve psychological well-being in other populations but no randomized controlled trials (RCT) have been conducted examining the impact of MBSR on well-being and inflammation in women veterans at risk for CVD.

Heart Rate Variability and Inflammatory Stress Response in Young African American Men: Implications for Cardiovascular Risk.

African American men have a disproportionately higher incidence of and suffer greater severity and earlier death from cardiovascular disease (CVD). A common feature of many diseases, which disproportionately afflict disadvantaged African Americans, is inflammation. In particular, inflammation plays a decisive role in the pathogenesis of CVD in that persistent inflammation contributes to plaque evolution and destabilization.

Social Support Is Inversely Associated With Sleep Disturbance, Inflammation, and Pain Severity in Chronic Low Back Pain.

Background: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a significant cause of disability, lost wages, and healthcare costs. Inflammatory mediators, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), have been associated with LBP severity. Patients with CLBP commonly experience sleep disturbance, and poor sleep has been shown to increase pain severity and inflammation.

Preliminary evidence for a race-based stress reduction intervention for Black women at risk for cardiovascular disease.

Objective: Despite evidence that chronic stress, racism, and discrimination impact the well-being and the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Black women, there are few evidence-based interventions that improve well-being and reduce the risk for CVD in women of minority groups. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the psychobehavioral and anti-inflammatory benefit of a race-based stress reduction program "Resilience, Stress, and Ethnicity (RiSE) for Black women at risk for CVD.

Methods: Black women were recruited from the Chicagoland community and randomized to either the 8-week RiSE intervention (n = 40) or control group (n = 34).

Behavioral Symptom Clusters, Inflammation, and Quality of Life in Chronic Low Back Pain.

Background: Chronic low back pain is a prevalent condition, often involving an inflammatory process. Behavioral symptoms, including depressed mood, fatigue, and sleep disturbance, intensifies pain and reduces quality of life.

Aims: The objectives of this pilot study were to identify behavioral symptom clusters (depressive mood, fatigue, poor sleep) in individuals with chronic low back pain, and to determine whether there are differences in pain, quality of life and inflammation (plasma IL-6) based on cluster membership.

Mindfulness Predicts Psycho-behavioral Improvement after Breast Cancer Diagnosis: Influence of Childhood Adversity.

Mindfulness-based interventions provide psychological benefit after breast cancer diagnosis. The aims of this study were to determine whether within-person change in facets of mindfulness predict psycho-behavioral improvements in women with breast cancer, and to assess the influence of childhood adversity on those improvements. Women randomized to the mindfulness arm of a larger trial were evaluated.

The relationship between stress and vitiligo: Evaluating perceived stress and electronic medical record data.

Vitiligo is a T-cell mediated skin disorder characterized by progressive loss of skin color. In individuals genetically predisposed to the disease, various triggers contribute to the initiation of vitiligo. Precipitating factors can stress the skin, leading to T-cell activation and recruitment.

Mindfulness based stress reduction provides psychological benefit and restores immune function of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer: A randomized trial with active control.

Background: Women newly diagnosed with breast cancer experience psychological distress, accompanied by reduced Natural Killer Cell Activity (NKCA) and altered levels of cytokines, which may compromise cancer control. Few studies have evaluated psycho-immune outcomes of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for women newly diagnosed with breast cancer in comparison to an active control condition.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether MBSR benefits psychological, behavioral, and immunological function in women recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Perceived discrimination is associated with the inflammatory response to acute laboratory stress in women at risk for cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States and exacts a disproportionate toll on minorities. Growing evidence demonstrates that perceived discrimination is a significant contributing factor to psychological distress, chronic low-grade inflammation, and cardiovascular health. However, little is known regarding the extent to which perceived discrimination contributes to the inflammatory response to acute stress.

During stress, heart rate variability moderates the impact of childhood adversity in women with breast cancer.

Childhood adversity has long-lasting neuro-biological effects that can manifest as exaggerated stress responsivity to environmental challenge. These manifestations include a dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis as well as increased levels of inflammatory mediators in response to stress. In this investigation, vagal parasympathetic activity was assessed for its capacity to moderate the relationship between childhood adversity and stress responsivity (cortisol and inflammation) during an acute laboratory challenge (Trier Social Stress Test-TSST).

Chromatin organization as an indicator of glucocorticoid induced natural killer cell dysfunction.

It is well-established that psychological distress reduces natural killer cell immune function and that this reduction can be due to the stress-induced release of glucocorticoids. Glucocorticoids are known to alter epigenetic marks associated with immune effector loci, and are also known to influence chromatin organization. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the effect of glucocorticoids on natural killer cell chromatin organization and to determine the relationship of chromatin organization to natural killer cell effector function, e.

Relationship of childhood adversity and neighborhood violence to a proinflammatory phenotype in emerging adult African American men: An epigenetic link.

African American men (AAM) who are exposed to trauma and adversity during their early life are at greater risk for poor health over their lifespan. Exposure to adversity during critical developmental windows may embed an epigenetic signature that alters expression of genes that regulate stress response systems, including those genes that regulate the inflammatory response to stress. Such an epigenetic signature may increase risk for diseases exacerbated by inflammation, and may contribute to health disparity.

Inflammatory and Epigenetic Pathways for Perinatal Depression.

Depression during the perinatal period is common and can have adverse consequences for women and their children. Yet, the biobehavioral mechanisms underlying perinatal depression are not known. Adverse early life experiences increase the risk for adult depression.

The Man I Once Knew: Grief and Inflammation in Female Partners of Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury.

Grief, although traditionally conceptualized as a bereavement-related reaction, is also experienced by significant others in response to the profound cognitive and personality changes associated with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a loved one. Grief associated with the death of a loved one is related to increases in proinflammatory cytokines, yet it is not clear whether this is the case for grief experienced by individuals caring for a significant other with TBI. The purpose of this cross-sectional, exploratory study was to examine grief and its association with a proinflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), in wives/partners caring for veterans with TBI.

Relationships among psychosocial factors, biomarkers, preeclampsia, and preterm birth in African American women: a pilot.

Aim: To explore the relationships among psychosocial factors (optimism, uncertainty, social support, coping, psychological distress), biomarkers (cortisol, cytokines), preeclampsia, and preterm birth in African American women.

Methods: Forty-nine pregnant African American women completed psychosocial questionnaires and had blood collected for biomarkers between 26 and 36 weeks of gestation. Birth outcomes were obtained from birth records.

Epigenetics and social context: implications for disparity in cardiovascular disease.

Background: Although it is well established that African Americans (AA) experience greater social stressors than non-Hispanic Whites (NHW), the extent to which early life adversity and cumulative social stressors such as perceived discrimination, neighborhood violence, subjective social status, and socioeconomic status contribute to disparity in coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke between AA and NHW are not well understood.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model based upon McEwen's Allostatic Load Model suggesting how the relationships among social context, early life adversity, psychological stress, inflammation, adaptation, and epigenetic signature may contribute to the development of CHD and ischemic stroke. We hypothesize that social context and prior life adversity are associated with genome-wide as well as gene-specific epigenetic modifications that confer a proinflammatory epigenetic signature that mediates an enhanced proinflammatory state.

Day-to-day dynamics of associations between sleep, napping, fatigue, and the cortisol diurnal rhythm in women diagnosed as having breast cancer.

Objectives: To examine whether day-to-day variations in sleep behaviors, ongoing sleep disturbance, and fatigue predict the cortisol diurnal rhythm in women recently diagnosed as having early-stage breast cancer.

Methods: Women (N = 130, mean [standard deviation] age = 55.6 [9.

Glucocorticoids regulate natural killer cell function epigenetically.

Although glucocorticoids are well known for their capacity to suppress the immune response, glucocorticoids can also promote immune responsiveness. It was the purpose of this investigation to evaluate the molecular basis for this apparent dichotomous immunologic effect. Glucocorticoid treatment of natural killer cells (NK) was shown to reduce NK cell cytolytic activity by reduction of histone promoter acetylation for perforin and granzyme B, which corresponded with reduced mRNA and protein for each.

Impact of partial versus whole breast radiation therapy on fatigue, perceived stress, quality of life and natural killer cell activity in women with breast cancer.

Introduction: This pilot study used a prospective longitudinal design to compare the effect of adjuvant whole breast radiation therapy (WBRT) versus partial breast radiation therapy (PBRT) on fatigue, perceived stress, quality of life and natural killer cell activity (NKCA) in women receiving radiation after breast cancer surgery.

Methods: Women (N = 30) with early-stage breast cancer received either PBRT, Mammosite brachytherapy at dose of 34 Gy 10 fractions/5 days, (N = 15) or WBRT, 3-D conformal techniques at dose of 50 Gy +10 Gy Boost/30 fractions, (N = 15). Treatment was determined by the attending oncologist after discussion with the patient and the choice was based on tumor stage and clinical need.

Childhood adversity increases vulnerability for behavioral symptoms and immune dysregulation in women with breast cancer.

Women respond differentially to the stress-associated with breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, with some women experiencing more intense and/or sustained behavioral symptoms and immune dysregulation than others. Childhood adversity has been identified to produce long-term dysregulation of stress response systems, increasing reactivity to stressors encountered during adulthood. This study determined whether childhood adversity increased vulnerability for more intense and sustained behavioral symptoms (fatigue, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms), poorer quality of life, and greater immune dysregulation in women (N=40) with breast cancer.

Depressive symptoms and diurnal salivary cortisol patterns among female caregivers of stroke survivors.

Informal caregivers of stroke survivors experience elevated chronic stress and are at risk of developing depressive symptoms. The cumulative effects of chronic stress can increase allostatic load and dysregulate biological processes, thus increasing risk of stress-related disease. Stress-induced alterations in the pattern of cortisol secretion vary with respect to stressor onset, intensity, and chronicity.

Glucocorticoid receptor mediated suppression of natural killer cell activity: identification of associated deacetylase and corepressor molecules.

Physical and psychological stressors reduce natural killer cell function. This reduction in cellular function results from stress-induced release of glucocorticoids. Glucocorticoids act upon natural killer cells to deacetylate and transrepress immune response genes through epigenetic processes.

Epigenetic patterns associated with the immune dysregulation that accompanies psychosocial distress.

The molecular basis for psychosocial-distress mediated immune-dysregulation is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to determine whether peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) epigenetic pattern associates with this form of immune dysregulation. Women newly diagnosed with early stage breast cancer were enrolled into the study and psychosocial, immunological and epigenetic assessments were made at diagnosis and four months later, after completion of cancer treatment.