War and women: An analysis of Ukrainian refugee women staying in the Czech Republic.

In addition to the loss of life, Russian aggression against Ukraine, which began in February 2022, also brings interpersonal losses resulting from the need to emigrate. Parallel to the fighting men, women bear most of the burden of caring for the family. Using in-depth interviews supplemented by questions about adverse childhood experiences and administration of The Centrality of Events Scale and the PTSD Checklist - PCL-5 with 43 Ukrainian women (18-60 years old), we analyzed adaptation to the situation of emigration and the association of their war and earlier experiences with the level of traumatization.

Lifelong effects of prenatal and early postnatal stress on the hippocampus, amygdala, and psychological states of Holocaust survivors.

This study focuses on hippocampal and amygdala volume, seed-based connectivity, and psychological traits of Holocaust survivors who experienced stress during prenatal and early postnatal development. We investigated people who lived in Central Europe during the Holocaust and who, as Jews, were in imminent danger. The group who experienced stress during their prenatal development and early postnatal (PreP) period (n = 11) were compared with a group who experienced Holocaust-related stress later in their lives: in late childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood (ChA) (n = 21).

Wellbeing and national identity in three generations of Czech and Slovak Holocaust survivors.

Subjective wellbeing (SWB) is an important factor of global adjustment. Intergenerational satisfaction in seriously traumatized people has not been studied so far in homogenous populations of Central and Eastern Europe. This study focuses on the SWB in three generations of survivors living in the Czech Republic and Slovakia after World War II (WWII).

Posttraumatic Stress and Posttraumatic Growth in Three Generations of Czech and Slovak Holocaust Survivors.

The psychological consequences of trauma related to the Holocaust have been primarily studied in samples derived from Israel, North America, and Western Europe. Few studies have examined postcommunist countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The present study focused on three generations living in the Czech Republic and Slovakia after World War II (WWII): Holocaust survivors (71-95 years of age), their children (30-73 years of age), and their grandchildren (15-48 years of age).

Lifelong impact of extreme stress on the human brain: Holocaust survivors study.

Background: We aimed to assess the lifelong impact of extreme stress on people who survived the Holocaust. We hypothesised that the impact of extreme trauma is detectable even after more than 70 years of an often complicated and stressful post-war life.

Methods: Psychological testing was performed on 44 Holocaust survivors (HS; median age 81.

No Evidence of Persistence or Inheritance of Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants.

Mitochondrial DNA copy number has been previously shown to be elevated with severe and chronic stress, as well as stress-related pathology like Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While experimental data point to likely recovery of mtDNA copy number changes after the stressful event, time needed for full recovery and whether it can be achieved are still unknown. Further, while it has been shown that stress-related mtDNA elevation affects multiple tissues, its specific consequences for oogenesis and maternal inheritance of mtDNA has never been explored.

The role of the striatum in visuomotor integration during handwriting: an fMRI study.

This study investigates the role of the dorsal/sensorimotor striatum in visuomotor integration (i.e., the transformation of internal visual information about letter shapes into motor output) during handwriting.

Holocaust history is not reflected in telomere homeostasis in survivors and their offspring.

Telomeres, nucleoprotein structures at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, are crucial for the maintenance of genome integrity. While the lengths of telomeres at birth are determined genetically, many factors including environmental and living conditions affect the telomere lengths during a lifespan. In this context, extreme and long-term stress has been shown to negatively impact telomeres and their protective function, with even offspring being influenced by the stress experienced by parents.