Employee Cardiometabolic Risk Following a Cluster-Randomized Workplace Intervention From the Work, Family and Health Network, 2009-2013.

To examine whether workplace interventions to increase workplace flexibility and supervisor support and decrease work-family conflict can reduce cardiometabolic risk. We randomly assigned employees from information technology (n = 555) and long-term care (n = 973) industries in the United States to the Work, Family and Health Network intervention or usual practice (we collected the data 2009-2013). We calculated a validated cardiometabolic risk score (CRS) based on resting blood pressure, HbA (glycated hemoglobin), HDL (high-density lipoprotein) and total cholesterol, height and weight (body mass index), and tobacco consumption.

Asthma Induction During Development and Adult Lung Function, Behavior and Brain Gene Expression.

In developing youth, allergic asthma is the most common chronic condition, with 9%-10% of youth affected. Asthma onset during childhood and adolescence is further associated with other health issues, particularly psychiatric conditions. To understand causal mechanisms by which developmental asthma may lead to altered behavior, brain and health trajectories, we developed a mouse model of developmental allergic asthma.

The influence of adolescent nicotine exposure on ethanol intake and brain gene expression.

Nicotine and alcohol are often co-abused. Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the initiation of both nicotine and alcohol use, which can lead to subsequent neurodevelopmental and behavioral alterations. It is possible that during this vulnerable period, use of one drug leads to neurobiological alterations that affect subsequent consumption of the other drug.

Peri-adolescent asthma symptoms cause adult anxiety-related behavior and neurobiological processes in mice.

Human and animal studies have shown that physical challenges and stressors during adolescence can have significant influences on behavioral and neurobiological development associated with internalizing disorders such as anxiety and depression. Given the prevalence of asthma during adolescence and increased rates of internalizing disorders in humans with asthma, we used a mouse model to test if and which symptoms of adolescent allergic asthma (airway inflammation or labored breathing) cause adult anxiety- and depression-related behavior and brain function. To mimic symptoms of allergic asthma in young BALB/cJ mice (postnatal days [P] 7-57; N=98), we induced lung inflammation with repeated intranasal administration of house dust mite extract (most common aeroallergen for humans) and bronchoconstriction with aerosolized methacholine (non-selective muscarinic receptor agonist).

The Effects of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Workplace Intervention on Sleep and Work-Family Conflict Outcomes in an Extended Care Setting.

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of a workplace-based intervention on actigraphic and self-reported sleep outcomes in an extended care setting.

Design: Cluster randomized trial.

Setting: Extended-care (nursing) facilities.

Diurnal salivary alpha-amylase dynamics among dementia family caregivers.

Objective: The study examined diurnal regulation of salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) in association with daily stressors, adult day services (ADS) use, and other caregiving characteristics.

Method: A sample of 165 family caregivers of individuals with dementia (IWD) completed an 8-day diary study. Caregivers provided 5 saliva samples across the 8 days.

Effects on cigarette consumption of a work-family supportive organisational intervention: 6-month results from the work, family and health network study.

Background: Observational studies have linked work-family issues with cigarette consumption. This study examined the 6-month effects on cigarette consumption of a work-family supportive organisational intervention among nursing home workers.

Methods: Group randomised controlled trial where 30 nursing homes across New England states were randomly assigned to either usual practice or to a 4-month intervention aimed at reducing work-family conflict via increased schedule control and family supportive supervisory behaviours (FSSB).

Exposure to nicotine increases nicotinic acetylcholine receptor density in the reward pathway and binge ethanol consumption in C57BL/6J adolescent female mice.

Nearly 80% of adult smokers begin smoking during adolescence. Binge alcohol consumption is also common during adolescence. Past studies report that nicotine and ethanol activate dopamine neurons in the reward pathway and may increase synaptic levels of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens through nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) stimulation.

Sleep duration and the cortisol awakening response in dementia caregivers utilizing adult day services.

Objective: Sleep complaints are common among caregivers and are associated with detriments in mental and physical health. Cortisol, a biomarker of the stress process, may link sleep with subsequent health changes in caregivers. The current study examines whether sleep duration is directly associated with the cortisol awakening response (CAR), or whether it is moderated by Adult Day Services (ADS) use, an intervention found previously to influence daily CAR by reducing stressor exposure.

The role of multiple negative social relationships in inflammatory cytokine responses to a laboratory stressor.

The present study examined the unique impact of perceived negativity in multiple social relationships on endocrine and inflammatory responses to a laboratory stressor. Via hierarchical cluster analysis, those who reported negative social exchanges across relationships with a romantic partner, family, and their closest friend had higher mean IL-6 across time and a greater increase in TNF-α from 15 min to 75 min post stress. Those who reported negative social exchanges across relationships with roommates, family, and their closest friend showed greater IL-6 responses to stress.

Work-family conflict, cardiometabolic risk, and sleep duration in nursing employees.

We investigated associations of work-family conflict and work and family conditions with objectively measured cardiometabolic risk and sleep. Multilevel analyses assessed cross-sectional associations between employee and job characteristics and health in analyses of 1,524 employees in 30 extended-care facilities in a single company. We examined work and family conditions in relation to: (a) validated, cardiometabolic risk score based on measured blood pressure, cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin, body mass index, and self-reported tobacco consumption and (b) wrist actigraphy-based sleep duration.

A workplace intervention improves sleep: results from the randomized controlled Work, Family, and Health Study.

Study Objectives: The Work, Family, and Health Network Study tested the hypothesis that a workplace intervention designed to increase family-supportive supervision and employee control over work time improves actigraphic measures of sleep quantity and quality.

Design: Cluster-randomized trial.

Setting: A global information technology firm.

Testosterone trajectories and reference ranges in a large longitudinal sample of male adolescents.

Purpose: Pubertal dynamics plays an important role in physical and psychological development of children and adolescents. We aim to provide reference ranges of plasma testosterone in a large longitudinal sample. Furthermore, we describe a measure of testosterone trajectories during adolescence that can be used in future investigations of development.

Prenatal cocaine exposure differentially affects stress responses in girls and boys: associations with future substance use.

Prenatal cocaine exposure may affect developing stress response systems in youth, potentially creating risk for substance use in adolescence. Further, pathways from prenatal risk to future substance use may differ for girls versus boys. The present longitudinal study examined multiple biobehavioral measures, including heart rate, blood pressure, emotion, and salivary cortisol and salivary alpha amylase (sAA), in response to a stressor in 193 low-income 14- to 17-year-olds, half of whom were prenatally cocaine exposed (PCE).

Anticipating an Easier Day: Effects of Adult Day Services on Daily Cortisol and Stress.

Purpose Of The Study: Family caregivers experience high levels of stress that place them at risk for poor health outcomes. We explore whether an intervention which lowers caregivers' daily exposure to stressors, adult day services (ADS), leads to improved regulation of the stress hormone, cortisol, which has implications for health and well-being.

Design And Methods: Participants (N = 158) were family caregivers of individuals with dementia (IWD) who were using ADS.

Depressive Mood, Anger, and Daily Cortisol of Caregivers on High- and Low-Stress Days.

Objectives: This study examines the association of daily cortisol with depressive mood and anger.

Method: Depressive mood, anger and 2 markers of cortisol, area under the curve (AUC), and cortisol awakening response (CAR) were examined for caregivers (N = 164) of individuals with dementia (IWDs) across 8 days, some of which IWDs attended an adult day service (ADS) program. Caregivers were primarily female (86.

Daily stressors and adult day service use by family caregivers: effects on depressive symptoms, positive mood, and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate.

Objective: This study examines effects of daily use of adult day service (ADS) programs by caregivers of individuals with dementia (IWD) on a salivary biomarker of stress reactivity, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S), and whether these effects on DHEA-S are associated with daily variability in positive mood and depressive symptoms.

Methods: We used a daily diary design of 8 consecutive days with alternation of intervention (ADS) and nonintervention days to evaluate within- and between-person effects of the intervention. Family caregivers (N = 151) of IWD who were using ADS were interviewed daily by telephone at home.

Caffeine administration does not alter salivary α-amylase activity in young male daily caffeine consumers.

Background: To follow up on a recent report from our lab [Hum Psychopharmacol 25:359-367, 2010.] we examined the effects of caffeine on salivary α-amylase (sAA) activity in response to an engaging, non-stressful task in healthy young males (age 18-30 yrs) who consumed caffeine on a daily basis. Using a placebo-controlled, double-blind, between-subjects design, 45 men received either placebo, 200 mg or 400 mg of caffeine (Vivarin®).

Age-specific locomotor response to nicotine in yellow and mottled yellow A(vy)/a mice.

Background: Most Agouti viable yellow (Avy) mice display constitutive expression of agouti protein, which acts as an inverse agonist at the melanocortin receptor 4 (Mc4r), resulting in adult-onset obesity as well as an altered sensitivity to some drugs of abuse. We investigated the influence of excessive agouti expression on open-field locomotor response to daily 0.5 mg/kg (-)-freebase nicotine injections in 27 early adolescent and 27 young adult male Avy/a and a/a mice, and assessed the effects of nicotine administration (0.

Synchrony of diurnal cortisol pattern in couples.

Cortisol is a biomarker of stress reactivity, and its diurnal pattern is an indicator of general neuroendocrine health. Despite theories conceptualizing marital dyads as dynamic systems wherein spouses are interdependent in their physiology and stress coping, little is known about the daily processes in which spouses possibly influence each other in biological stress. Nineteen heterosexual couples provided saliva samples containing cortisol 4 times a day for 4 consecutive days.

The effects of adult day services on family caregivers' daily stress, affect, and health: outcomes from the Daily Stress and Health (DaSH) study.

Purpose: We examine the effects of use of adult day service (ADS) by caregivers of individuals with dementia (IWD) on daily stressors, affect, and health symptoms. Participants were interviewed for 8 consecutive days. On some days, the IWD attended an ADS program and on the other days caregivers provide most or all of the care at home.

Effects of caffeine and stress on biomarkers of cardiovascular disease in healthy men and women with a family history of hypertension.

The connection between caffeine and its potentially detrimental effects on blood markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are controversial. Most studies have focused on cholesterol as a putative mediator of the caffeine-CVD relationship. Other blood markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen have been understudied.

The role of daily activities in youths' stress physiology.

Purpose: This study examined links between diurnal patterns of the stress hormone cortisol and time spent by adolescents in nine common daily activities.

Methods: During eight consecutive nightly telephone interviews, 28 youths (n = 12 girls), 10-18 years of age, reported their daily activities. On 4 days, four saliva samples were also collected and assayed for cortisol.

Elevated thyroid stimulating hormone is associated with elevated cortisol in healthy young men and women.

Background: Recent attention has been given to subclinical hypothyroidism, defined as an elevation of TSH (4.5-10 uIU/L) with T4 and T3 levels still within the normal range. Controversy exists about the proper lower limit of TSH that defines patients in the subclinical hypothyroidism range and about if/when subclinical hypothyroidism should be treated.