Spirituality in Managing Perceived Stress and Promoting Self-Care: A Descriptive Study on Nursing Students in Spain.

The relationship between spirituality, perceived stress, and self-care was examined in a sample of 515 nursing students in Spain. Using the perceived stress scale (PSS), the professional self-care scale (PSCS), and the spirituality questionnaire (MiLS-sp/sf), the findings indicated that higher spirituality, particularly through inner peace and faith, was linked to reduced stress and enhanced self-care across physical, inner, and social dimensions. However, the inner self-care dimension was the least developed, suggesting that essential emotional, spiritual, and psychological needs were neglected.

Does stress response axis activation differ between patients with autoimmune disease and healthy people?

Many studies have shown that patients with autoimmune disease present a hypoactive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, but the results are controversial. Our objective was to study differences in stress response axis activity between patients with autoimmune disease and healthy people. The study sample consisted of 97 women divided into four groups: 37 healthy women (HW), 21 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 21 with Sjögren's syndrome (SS), and 18 with systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Psychological and quality of life effects of vaccination against COVID-19 in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases.

To verify the psychological and quality of life benefits of vaccination against COVID-19 in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases. In this study, levels of psychological stress, psychopathological symptoms, quality of life, and satisfaction with life were compared in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases vaccinated against COVID-19 ( = 132) versus unvaccinated patients ( = 254). To this end, we used the (PSS), (SCL-90-R), , and (SWLS), respectively.

Effect of COVID-19 confinement on the mental status of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background And Objective: Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are more vulnerable to higher levels of stress and psychopathological symptoms than the general healthy population. Therefore, the COVID-19 outbreak could alter their psychological state. The objective was to analyze the psychological impact of the pandemic and confinement on stress levels and psychopathological symptoms in patients with SLE.

Effect of COVID-19 confinement on the mental status of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background And Objective: Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are more vulnerable to higher levels of stress and psychopathological symptoms than the general healthy population. Therefore, the COVID-19 outbreak could alter their psychological state. The objective was to analyze the psychological impact of the pandemic and confinement on stress levels and psychopathological symptoms in patients with SLE.

Correction: Hair cortisol concentrations in a Spanish sample of healthy adults.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Hair cortisol concentrations in a Spanish sample of healthy adults.

Background: Hair cortisol concentration (HCC), as a novel promising method to retrospectively measure hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation, is being increasingly studied. We tested the relationships between HCC and a range of possible confounding variables in a Spanish sample of healthy adults and pregnant women.

Methods: The number of healthy adults who participated in the study was 529, being 270 males and 259 females, with a combined mean age of 37.

[Burnout and executive functions in Palliative Care health professionals: influence of burnout on decision making].

Background: Health professionals show a high prevalence of burnout syndrome. This syndrome could be involved in the alteration of higher cognitive functions in the clinical setting. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether burnout is related to the executive functions of inhibition, working memory, decision-making, and cognitive flexibility in palliative care health professionals.

The relationship between the menstrual cycle and cortisol secretion: Daily and stress-invoked cortisol patterns.

The menstrual cycle involves significant changes in hormone levels, causing physical and psychological changes in women that are further influenced by stress. The aim of this study was to understand the relationship between menstrual cycle phase and salivary cortisol patterns during the day as well as the salivary cortisol response to the Virtual Reality Version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-VR). Forty two women not taking oral contraceptives (24 in follicular phase and 18 in luteal phase) participated in the study.

Association between perceived level of stress, clinical characteristics and psychopathological symptoms in women with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objectives: To evaluate psychopathological status and stress level from a sample with SLE; compare mental functioning and stress levels between women with SLE and healthy women; determine whether disease duration, disease activity, cumulative organ damage and stress have an influence on psychopathological symptoms in SLE patients; and evaluate whether perception of stress is related to SLE severity.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 425 participants; 202 women with SLE, with an average age (SD) of 36.61 (10.

Analyses of hair and salivary cortisol for evaluating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation in patients with autoimmune disease.

Although many studies have shown that patients with autoimmune disease present a hypoactive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), controversial results have been described. Our objective was to study HPA axis activity in women with autoimmune disease compared to healthy women. Therefore, we analyzed salivary cortisol over the course of a day, and hair cortisol concentrations from the three preceding months, from 65 women divided into two groups: healthy women (n = 30), with a mean age of 44.

Association between burnout and cortisol secretion, perceived stress, and psychopathology in palliative care unit health professionals.

Unlabelled: ABSTRACTObjective:A high incidence of burnout has been reported in health professionals working in palliative care units. Our present study aims to determine whether there are differences in the secretion of salivary cortisol between palliative care unit health professionals with and without burnout, and to elucidate whether there is a relationship between burnout syndrome and perceived stress and psychopathological status in this population.

Method: A total of 69 health professionals who met the inclusion criteria participated in our study, including physicians, nurses, and nursing assistants.

Effects of the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Stress Management on Executive Function Components.

This study aims to determine whether it is possible to modify executive function in stressed individuals by means of cognitive-behavioral therapy for stress management. Thirty-one people with high levels of perceived stress were recruited into the study (treatment group = 18; wait-list group = 13). The treatment group received 14 weeks of stress management program.

The effects of corticosteroids on cognitive flexibility and decision-making in women with lupus.

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible effects of corticosteroids in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in two processes of executive function: cognitive flexibility and decision-making. To that end, we evaluated 121 women divided into three groups: 50 healthy women, 38 women with SLE not receiving corticosteroid treatment and 33 women with SLE receiving corticosteroid treatment. Cognitive flexibility was measured with the Trail Making Tests A and B; decision-making was measured with the Iowa Gambling Task.

A virtual reality approach to the Trier Social Stress Test: Contrasting two distinct protocols.

Virtual reality adaptations of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-VR) constitute useful tools for studying the physiologic axes involved in the stress response. Here, we aimed to determine the most appropriate experimental approach to the TSST-VR when investigating the modulation of the axes involved in the stress response. We compared the use of goggles versus a screen projection in the TSST-VR paradigm.

A relaxation technique enhances psychological well-being and immune parameters in elderly people from a nursing home: a randomized controlled study.

Background: The aging process involves a decline in immune functioning that renders elderly people more vulnerable to disease. In residential programs for the aged, it is vital to diminish their risk of disease, promote their independence, and augment their psychological well-being and quality of life.

Methods: We performed a randomized controlled study, evaluating the ability of a relaxation technique based on Benson's relaxation response to enhance psychological well-being and modulate the immune parameters of elderly people living in a geriatric residence when compared to a waitlist control group.

[Impulsivity and compulsivity in cocaine dependent individuals].

A recent theoretical approach describes addiction as a dynamic behavioural change process on the impulsivity-compulsivity axis. However, on the basis of current evidence, it is still difficult to establish a selective association between the course of addiction and individual transition along this axis. The aim of this study is to categorize each of the individuals in a sample of cocaine-dependent patients (CDI) as mainly impulsive or mainly compulsive, on the basis of their performance in neuropsychological inhibition and perseveration tests, and to test the association between the assigned category and their scores in trait impulsivity, and severity of cocaine addiction (measured by means of self-report assessment tools).

Can decision-making skills affect responses to psychological stress in healthy women?

In recent studies showing how stress can affect an individual's decision-making process, the cognitive component of decision-making could also be considered a coping resource available to individuals when faced with a stressful situation. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) constitutes the standard test for the assessment of decision-making skills under conditions of uncertainty. Responses of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to psychosocial stress, in turn, have been estimated by means of cortisol measurements.

Quality-of-life predictor factors in patients with SLE and their modification after cognitive behavioural therapy.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the clinical and psychological factors linked to health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and test the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy in changing these factors.

Methods: We evaluated 34 patients with SLE over a period of 15 months. In order to study the variables related to items of QOL and the physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) component summaries of the SF-36, several multiple linear regression models were constructed.

[Adaptation and validation of the Spanish version of a disease-specific quality of life measure in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: the Lupus quality of life].

Background And Objective: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an auto-immune disease that seriously affects quality of life. There are various specific instruments that measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL), but none of them has been adapted to Spanish. We intended to adapt and validate in a Spanish population a specific HRQOL measure in patients with SLE.

[Physiopathologic implications of telomerase].

Telomerase is a specialized RNA-directed DNA polymerase that extends telomeres of eukaryotic chromosomes. Telomerase gene expression is active in germinal, stem and tumoral cells and repressed in normal human somatic cells. Activation of telomerase involves immortalization, while repression of this enzyme involves the shortening of telomeres in each round of chromosomal replication.

Effect of chronic ethanol or acetaldehyde on hepatic alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases, aminotransferases and glutamate dehydrogenase.

Ethanol or acetaldehyde orally administered (15% and 2% respectively in drinking water) to male Wistar rats for three months induced alterations in the main liver enzymes responsible for ethanol metabolism, aspartate and alanine aminotransferases and NAD glutamate dehydrogenase. Ethanol produced a significant decrease in the activity of soluble alcohol dehydrogenase, while acetaldehyde induced alterations both in soluble and mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenases: soluble activity was significantly higher than in the control and ethanol-treated groups, and mitochondrial activity was significantly diminished. Both soluble aspartate and alanine aminotransferases showed pronounced increases by the chronic effect of acetaldehyde, while mitochondrial activities were practically unchanged by the effect of ethanol or acetaldehyde.

The effect of chronic ethanol administration on lipogenesis in liver and adipose tissue in the rat.

Rates of lipogenesis de novo have been studied in liver and epididymal fat pads of male rats chronically treated with ethanol. A solution of ethanol (150 ml/l) was administered as the only drinking fluid for 3 months with a standard solid diet; both food and drink were available ad lib. Lipogenesis in vivo was measured by the incorporation of tritiated water into lipid fractions: non-saponifiable lipid and fatty acids.