Dark chocolate attenuates intracellular pro-inflammatory reactivity to acute psychosocial stress in men: A randomized controlled trial.

Flavanol-rich dark chocolate consumption relates to lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, but underlying mechanisms are elusive. We investigated the effect of acute dark chocolate consumption on inflammatory measures before and after stress. Healthy men, aged 20-50years, were randomly assigned to a single intake of either 50g of flavanol-rich dark chocolate (n=31) or 50g of optically identical flavanol-free placebo-chocolate (n=34).

Perception of a hectic hospital environment at admission relates to acute stress disorder symptoms in myocardial infarction patients.

Objective: Hospital crowding is a public health problem that may impact on the quality of medical treatment and increase the risk of developing traumatic stress, e.g., after myocardial infarction (MI).

Association of Trait Resilience With Peritraumatic and Posttraumatic Stress in Patients With Myocardial Infarction.

Objective: Acute myocardial infarction (MI) is a life-threatening condition, leading to immediate fear and distress in many patients. Approximately 18% of patients develop posttraumatic stress disorder in the aftermath of MI. Trait resilience has shown to be a protective factor for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Resilience as a correlate of acute stress disorder symptoms in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Objectives: Myocardial infarction (MI) may be experienced as a traumatic event causing acute stress disorder (ASD). This mental disorder has an impact on the daily life of patients and is associated with the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. Trait resilience has been shown to be a protective factor for post-traumatic stress disorder, but its association with ASD in patients with MI is elusive and was examined in this study.

A picture paints a thousand words: Heart drawings reflect acute distress and illness perception and predict posttraumatic stress symptoms after acute myocardial infarction.

The aim of this study was to examine whether heart drawings of patients with acute myocardial infarction reflect acute distress symptoms and negative illness beliefs and predict posttraumatic stress symptoms 3 months post-myocardial infarction. In total, 84 patients aged over 18 years drew pictures of their heart. The larger the area drawn as damaged, the greater were the levels of acute distress ( = 0.

Anticipatory cognitive stress appraisal modulates suppression of wound-induced macrophage activation by acute psychosocial stress.

Anticipatory cognitive stress appraisal (ACSA) can affect the stress-induced release of stress hormones, which, in turn, can modulate microbicidal potential of macrophages. This study examines whether ACSA modulates wound-induced activation of macrophage microbicidal potential in 22 acutely stressed compared to 17 nonstressed healthy men. After catheter-induced wound infliction and completing the ACSA questionnaire, the stress group underwent an acute mental stress task, while the nonstressed group did not.