Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and sympathetic nervous system responses to social evaluative stress in chronic cannabis users and non-users.

Background: To advance our understanding of the health-related consequences of chronic cannabis use, this study examined hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity and regulation in response to a well-characterized, acute, social evaluative stress task among cannabis users and non-users. We also explored differences in HPA-SNS coordination across the stress task in cannabis users and non-users.

Method: Participants were 75 adults (53% female) who reported no use of tobacco/nicotine products.

Taking context to heart: Momentary emotions, menstrual cycle phase, and cardiac autonomic regulation.

Emotions have long been discussed in conjunction with the autonomic nervous system. Most research on emotion-autonomic linkages does not consider sex differences or an evident underlying mechanism for sex differences: menstrual cycle phase. Further, most research is limited to cross-sectional and laboratory studies.

Effect of β-blockers on triggering of symptomatic atrial fibrillation by anger or stress.

Background: Anger and stress can trigger episodes of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with a history of AF.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether β-blockers can protect against emotionally triggered AF.

Methods: In this prospective, controlled, electronic diary-based study of emotions preceding AF, patients with a history of paroxysmal or persistent AF (N = 91) recorded their rhythm on event monitors at the time of AF symptoms and completed a diary entry querying mood states (eg, anger and stress) for the preceding 30 minutes (pre-AF "case period") for 1 year.

The effect of the interdialytic interval on cognitive function in patients on haemodialysis.

Background: Cognitive deficits are common among individuals on haemodialysis (HD). The degree of dysfunction may shift over the course of the interdialytic interval.

Objectives: To use ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine the relationship between the length of the interdialytic interval and reports of cognitive dysfunction.

I (should) need a cigarette: adolescent social anxiety and cigarette smoking.

Background: Approximately half of high school students in the USA have used tobacco. Social anxiety can put adolescents at increased risk for smoking.

Purpose: This study aims to determine whether adolescents high in trait social anxiety report more cigarette use and greater urge to smoke before, during, and after friend interactions than do teens low in trait social anxiety.

Traffic-related air pollution and blood pressure in elderly subjects with coronary artery disease.

Background: Associations between blood pressure (BP) and ambient air pollution have been inconsistent. No studies have used ambulatory BP monitoring and outdoor home air-pollutant measurements with time-activity-location data. We address these gaps in a study of 64 elderly subjects with coronary artery disease, living in retirement communities in the Los Angeles basin.

Nicotine-induced brain metabolism associated with anger provocation.

Cortico-limbic brain activity associated with anger may be susceptible to nicotine and, thus, may contribute to smoking initiation and nicotine addiction. The purpose of the study was to identify the brain regions that are most reactive to nicotine and show the greatest association with anger task performance. Twenty adult nonsmokers (9 women, 11 men) participated in two laboratory sessions to assess brain metabolism with fluoro deoxy-glucose Positron Emission Topography (FDG-PET) in response to nicotine and placebo patches during an anger provocation task.

The impact of menstrual cycle phase on cardiac autonomic regulation.

This study investigated menstrual cycle phase differences in heart rate (HR) and RR interval variability (RRV) in 49 healthy, premenopausal, eumenorrheic women (age 30.2+/-6.2 years).

Bummed out now, feeling sick later: weekday versus weekend negative affect and physical symptom reports in high school freshmen.

Purpose: This study examined adolescent negative affect (NA) in daily life on school days and weekend days during the spring and associations with physical symptoms during the following summer.

Methods: Using experience sampling methodology (ESM), participants provided electronic diary (eDiary) reports of NA on weekdays (Thursday and Friday) and weekend days during their 9th grade year. In telephone interviews during the winter and summer months they reported physical symptoms.

Smoking to self-medicate attentional and emotional dysfunctions.

Individuals with attentional and emotional dysfunctions are most at risk for smoking initiation and subsequent nicotine addiction. This article presents converging findings from human behavioral research, brain imaging, and basic neuroscience on smoking as self-medication for attentional and emotional dysfunctions. Nicotine and other tobacco constituents have significant effects on neural circuitry underlying the regulation of attention and affect.

Mapping the social and physical contexts of physical activity across adolescence using ecological momentary assessment.

Background: Research has sought to understand how environmental factors influence adolescent physical activity, yet little is known about where and with whom adolescents are physically active.

Purpose: This study used electronic ecological momentary assessment (e.EMA) to map the social and physical contexts of exercise and walking across adolescence.

Paradoxical effects of social support on blood pressure reactivity among defensive individuals.

Background: Social support can reduce cardiovascular responses to an acute stressor. However, prior clinical research suggests that defensive individuals may react negatively to social support.

Purpose: This experiment examined whether emotional support provided during a speech stressor would escalate rather than decrease blood pressure (BP) reactivity among defensive individuals.

The reinforcing effects of nicotine and stimulant medication in the everyday lives of adult smokers with ADHD: A preliminary examination.

Whereas the smoking prevalence rates in the general population are declining, rates among people diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) continue to be elevated. Previous research has shown that nicotine may improve attention and mood, suggesting that nicotine may help ameliorate the attentional and emotional problems associated with ADHD. The present study examined the effects of nicotine with and without stimulant medication on ADHD symptoms, moods, and arousal in the everyday lives of smokers with ADHD.

Toward mapping daily challenges of living with ADHD: maternal and child perspectives using electronic diaries.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has an impact on the family as well as the affected child. This study developed and tested an electronic diary for mapping the challenges of everyday family life in a sample of children with ADHD being treated with pharmacotherapy. Across 7 days, mothers and children (27 ADHD; 25 non-ADHD) independently reported their moods, behaviors, and social contexts every 30 min during nonschool hours.

An electronic diary study of contextual triggers and ADHD: get ready, get set, get mad.

Objective: This study was designed to examine context effects or provocation ecologies in the daily lives of children with ADHD.

Method: Across 7 days, mothers and children (27 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] taking stimulant medication; 25 children without ADHD; ages 7-12 years) provided electronic diary reports every 30 +/- 5 minutes during non-school hours. Child and maternal perceptions of behaviors, moods, and interaction quality during preparatory and transitional ("getting ready") activities were compared with those during other activities.

Using ecologic momentary assessment to measure physical activity during adolescence.

Objective: Examine the validity of using high-density electronic ecologic momentary assessment (EMA) to assess physical activity. EMA was further used to explore within- and between-subject variability in adolescent physical activity (PA) patterns.

Methods: Adolescents (n=526, 51% male) participated in EMA waves occurring approximately every 6 months between the 9th and 12th grade.

Adolescents react to the events of September 11, 2001: focused versus ambient impact.

This study examined the perceived impact of the events of September 11, 2001, on adolescents distant from the disaster sites and compared these perceptions with changes in everyday moods. A survey of reactions to September 11 was completed 2-5 months after the events by 171 adolescents participating in a longitudinal study of stress and health. Electronic diary ratings of contemporaneous moods before and after the attacks were also compared.

The ADHD spectrum and everyday life: experience sampling of adolescent moods, activities, smoking, and drinking.

Using an experience sampling methodology, the everyday lives of 153 adolescents with low, middle, or high levels of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) characteristics as assessed by either parent or teen were examined. Twice each hour, across two 4-day recording intervals, participants in a longitudinal study of stress and health risks logged their behaviors, moods, and social contexts. Those with high, in contrast to low, ADHD symptom levels recorded more negative and fewer positive moods, lower alertness, more entertaining activities relative to achievement-oriented pursuits, more time with friends and less time with family, and more tobacco and alcohol use.

Tobacco use across the formative years: a road map to developmental vulnerabilities.

Different vulnerabilities are launched or play a more active role at different developmental stages and different ages. Furthermore, the interplay between developmental and biological, psychosocial, and environmental vulnerabilities is expected to differ across stages of smoking. This article focuses on the intersection of vulnerability associated with adolescence with tobacco-use vulnerability resulting from biological, psychological, and environmental characteristics of an adolescent.

Is there a link between adolescent cigarette smoking and pharmacotherapy for ADHD?

There is continuing concern that pharmacotherapy for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may raise the risk of smoking (the gateway hypothesis). Alternatively, unmedicated people with ADHD may use nicotine to improve attentional and self-regulatory competence (the self-medication hypothesis). From a community sample of 511 adolescents participating in a longitudinal health study, 27 were identified as having ADHD, and 11 of these were receiving pharmacotherapy.

Situations and moods associated with smoking in everyday life.

On 4 days, in everyday situations, 21 female and 26 male smokers used an electronic diary to record situations and moods at times of smoking and at control nonsmoking occasions. Self-reports of particular locations, activities, posture, consumption, social context, moods, and internal states were specifically associated with smoking. Real-time assessments in everyday situations provide useful information about the interplay of environmental factors and internal states in smoking.

Anxiety, affect, and activity in teenagers: monitoring daily life with electronic diaries.

Objective: The everyday experiences of a community sample of adolescents differing in anxiety level were compared by means of electronic diaries.

Method: One hundred fifty-five ninth-grade adolescents completed electronic diaries every 30 minutes for two 4-day intervals, reporting their moods, activities, social settings, dietary intake, smoking, and alcohol use. Teenagers were stratified into low-, middle-, or high-anxiety groups on the basis of diary ratings and, separately, questionnaire scores.

Temporal analysis of the relationship of smoking behavior and urges to mood states in men versus women.

Epidemiological investigations of mood and smoking have relied largely on retrospective self-reports, with little research on real-time associations. We examined the relationship of mood states to contemporaneous smoking urges and to subsequent smoking and also assessed the effects of smoking on subsequent mood. For 2 days, 25 female and 35 male smokers aged 18-42 made three prompted diary entries per hour plus pre- and post-smoking entries (6882 entries).