A pilot study exploring the relationship between wellness and physical fitness: an examination into autonomic health.

To explore the relationship between physical fitness and wellness in order to determine if perceptions of wellness can be predicted by physical fitness level. Sixty-seven college students (41 females;  = 20.86 years, SD = 4.

The relationship between sleep and autonomic health.

To examine the relationship between sleep and resting autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning in college students. Participants were 141 undergraduate students (52 males) recruited from a large southeastern university during September-October 2017. Participants completed self-report inventories (demographic and sleep characteristics).

Dominance relationships in Syrian hamsters modulate neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to social stress.

Stress is a well-known risk factor for psychopathology and rodent models of social defeat have strong face, etiological, construct and predictive validity for these conditions. Syrian hamsters are highly aggressive and territorial, but after an acute social defeat experience they become submissive and no longer defend their home territory, even from a smaller, non-aggressive intruder. This defeat-induced change in social behavior is called conditioned defeat (CD).

An examination of college student wellness: A research and liberal arts perspective.

Promoting wellness within academia reduces disease frequency and enhances overall health. This study examined wellness factors among undergraduate students attending a research university ( = 85) or a small liberal arts college ( = 126). Participants were administered surveys which measured , and wellness.

A sympathetic nervous system evaluation of obesity stigma.

The portrayal of obesity in the media is often one of negativity. Consequently, it may generate an increase in stigma. Obesity stigma, a form of social discrimination, is responsible for many of the negative psychological and physiological effects on individual wellness.

Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of REM Sleep Homeostatic Drive: A Plausible Component for Behavioral Plasticity.

Homeostatic regulation of REM sleep drive, as measured by an increase in the number of REM sleep transitions, plays a key role in neuronal and behavioral plasticity (i.e., learning and memory).

Wellness among African-American and Caucasian students attending a predominantly White institution.

The wellness movement is growing on college campuses; however, the examination of race is lacking. We examined aspects of physical and emotional well-being as a function of race in 197 college students at a predominantly White institution. Results revealed racial differences on diet, (1, 196) = 7.

RETRACTED: BNDF heterozygosity is associated with memory deficits and alterations in cortical and hippocampal EEG power.

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal).

Activation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor-tropomyosin receptor kinase B signaling in the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus: a novel mechanism for the homeostatic regulation of rapid eye movement sleep.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep dysregulation is a symptom of many neuropsychiatric disorders, yet the mechanisms of REM sleep homeostatic regulation are not fully understood. We have shown that, after REM sleep deprivation, the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPT) plays a critical role in the generation of recovery REM sleep. In this study, we used multidisciplinary techniques to show a causal relationship between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) signaling in the PPT and the development of REM sleep homeostatic drive.

The homeostatic regulation of REM sleep: A role for localized expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the brainstem.

Homeostatic regulation of REM sleep plays a key role in neural plasticity and deficits in this process are implicated in the development of many neuropsychiatric disorders. Little is known, however, about the molecular mechanisms that underlie this homeostatic regulation process. This study examined the hypothesis that, during selective REM sleep deprivation (RSD), increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in REM sleep regulating areas is critical for the development of homeostatic drive for REM sleep, as measured by an increase in the number of REM sleep transitions.

Mechanisms underlying sleep-wake disturbances in alcoholism: focus on the cholinergic pedunculopontine tegmentum.

Sleep-wake (S-W) disturbances are frequently associated with alcohol use disorders (AUD), occurring during periods of active drinking, withdrawal, and abstinence. These S-W disturbances can persist after months or even years of abstinence, suggesting that chronic alcohol consumption may have enduring negative effects on both homeostatic and circadian sleep processes. It is now generally accepted that S-W disturbances in alcohol-dependent individuals are a significant cause of relapse in drinking.

The Kv7 potassium channel activator retigabine decreases alcohol consumption in rats.

Background: Activation of Kv7 potassium channels may decrease the reactivity of mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons that are implicated in mediating the reinforcing effects of ethanol.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine whether the administration of the Kv7 potassium channel opener retigabine would decrease ethanol intake in Long Evans rats.

Methods: A limited access two-bottle choice model of alcohol (10% solution) consumption was used in this study.

Dorsal subcoeruleus nucleus (SubCD) involvement in context-associated fear memory consolidation.

The neurobiological mechanisms of emotional memory processing can be investigated using classical fear conditioning as a model system, and evidence from multiple lines of research suggests that sleep influences consolidation of emotional memory. In rodents, some of this evidence comes from a common finding that sleep deprivation from 0 to 6 h after fear conditioning training impairs processing of conditioned fear memory. Here, we show that during a 6-h session of sleep-wake (S-W) recording, immediately after a session of context-associated fear conditioning training, rats spent more time in wakefulness (W) and less time in slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

Fear extinction memory consolidation requires potentiation of pontine-wave activity during REM sleep.

Sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation within multiple memory systems including contextual fear extinction memory, but little is known about the mechanisms that underlie this process. Here, we show that fear extinction training in rats, which extinguished conditioned fear, increased both slow-wave sleep and rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep. Surprisingly, 24 h later, during memory testing, only 57% of the fear-extinguished animals retained fear extinction memory.

REM Sleep Regulating Mechanisms in the Cholinergic Cell Compartment of the Brainstem.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a highly evolved yet paradoxical behavioral state (highly activated brain in a paralyzed body) in mammalian species. Since the discovery of REM sleep and its physiological distinction from other sleep states, a vast number of studies in neurosciences have been dedicated toward understanding the mechanisms and functions of this behavioral state. Collectively, studies have shown that each of the physiological events that characterize the behavioral state of REM sleep is executed by distinct cell groups located in the brainstem.

Calcium/calmodulin kinase II in the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus modulates the initiation and maintenance of wakefulness.

The pedunculopontine tegmentum nucleus (PPT) is critically involved in the regulation of wakefulness (W) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, but our understanding of the mechanisms of this regulation remains incomplete. The present study was designed to determine the role of PPT intracellular calcium/calmodulin kinase (CaMKII) signaling in the regulation of W and sleep. To achieve this aim, three different concentrations (0.

Sharing stressful experiences attenuates anxiety-related cognitive and sleep impairments.

Anxiety is a growing public health concern that has been shown to impair both sleep and learning, and these associations have been extensively studied in recent years. In the rodent model, oftentimes various foot-shock paradigms are employed to induce stress, and subsequent sleep recordings and/or learning task results are analyzed. Previous studies have focused primarily on an individual animal's response to stress following individual stressor exposure, thereby emulating only an isolated condition.