The association between perceived stress, acculturation, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in Mexican-origin adults in Southern Arizona.

Although available evidence indicates that Mexican-origin (MO) adults experience unique stressful life events, little is known about how stress may influence risk for developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) for this high-risk group. This study investigated the association between perceived stress and NAFLD and explored how this relationship varied by acculturation levels. In a cross-sectional study, a total of 307 MO adults from a community-based sample in the U.

Cognitively Based Compassion Training for HIV Immune Nonresponders-An Attention-Placebo Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: Chronic inflammation is associated with increased morbidity and mortality for people with HIV (PWH). Psychological stress is an important contributor to this chronic inflammation. We hypothesized that a cognitively based compassion training (CBCT) approach could reduce inflammation and psychological stress in immune nonresponder PWH.

Alternate Nostril Breathing to Reduce Stress: An Option for Pregnant Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence?

Background: Stress resulting from intimate partner violence (IPV) on pregnant women causes and sustains poor health and contributes to poor pregnancy and birth outcomes. Appropriate interventions to reduce stress in this population of women are warranted.

Objective: To present a systematic review and the state of the science of evidence on alternate nostril breathing (ANB) as a holistic intervention for stress reduction for pregnant survivors of IPV, framed by complex adaptive systems theory and psychoneuroimmunology.

Dyadic coping and salivary interleukin-6 responses to interpersonal stress.

Dysregulated immune responses to stress are a potential pathway linking close relationship processes to health, and couples' abilities to cope with stress together (dyadic coping) likely impact such immune responses. Most stress research has focused on immune reactivity, whereas knowledge of immune recovery remains limited. The present study examined how acute interpersonal stress affects immune reactivity and recovery, as well as whether dyadic coping moderates these effects.

Emotion Dysregulation and Inflammation in African-American Women with Type 2 Diabetes.

C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation, has been associated with major depressive disorder (MDD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Emotion dysregulation is a transdiagnostic risk factor for many psychological disorders associated with chronic inflammatory state. The objective of this study was to determine whether inflammation is associated with emotion dysregulation in women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Feasibility of Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) for breast cancer survivors: a randomized, wait list controlled pilot study.

Purpose: This study assessed the feasibility of a meditation-based program called Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) with breast cancer survivors. Enrollment and participant satisfaction with a novel intervention, adherence to program requirements, and differences between the intervention group and wait list controls on self-report measures were also assessed. Additionally, cortisol, a stress-related endocrine biomarker, was assessed.

Re-evaluating the treatment of acute optic neuritis.

Clinical case reports and prospective trials have demonstrated a reproducible benefit of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis modulation on the rate of recovery from acute inflammatory central nervous system (CNS) demyelination. As a result, corticosteroid preparations and adrenocorticotrophic hormones are the current mainstays of therapy for the treatment of acute optic neuritis (AON) and acute demyelination in multiple sclerosis.Despite facilitating the pace of recovery, HPA axis modulation and corticosteroids have failed to demonstrate long-term benefit on functional recovery.

Mechanistic insights into corticosteroids in multiple sclerosis: war horse or chameleon?

Objectives: Relapse management is a crucial component of multiple sclerosis (MS) care. High-dose corticosteroids (CSs) are used to dampen inflammation, which is thought to hasten the recovery of MS relapse. A diversity of mechanisms drive the heterogeneous clinical response to exogenous CSs in patients with MS.

Epigenetic changes associated with inflammation in breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy.

Inflammation has been associated with fatigue during and after various types of breast cancer treatments. We examined whether prior chemotherapy was associated with DNA methylation patterns that could explain persisting inflammation and/or fatigue in women treated for breast cancer. Prior to breast radiation therapy, DNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 61 Stage 0-IIIA breast cancer patients who had received partial mastectomy with or without chemotherapy.

IFN-alpha-induced cortical and subcortical glutamate changes assessed by magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Cytokine effects on behavior may be related to alterations in glutamate metabolism. We therefore measured glutamate concentrations in brain regions shown to be affected by inflammatory stimuli including the cytokine interferon (IFN)-alpha. IFN-alpha is known to alter neural activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and basal ganglia in association with symptoms of depression and increases in peripheral cytokines including the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and its soluble receptor.

Childhood maltreatment is associated with distinct genomic and epigenetic profiles in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Childhood maltreatment is likely to influence fundamental biological processes and engrave long-lasting epigenetic marks, leading to adverse health outcomes in adulthood. We aimed to elucidate the impact of different early environment on disease-related genome-wide gene expression and DNA methylation in peripheral blood cells in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Compared with the same trauma-exposed controls (n = 108), gene-expression profiles of PTSD patients with similar clinical symptoms and matched adult trauma exposure but different childhood adverse events (n = 32 and 29) were almost completely nonoverlapping (98%).

Predictors of depression in breast cancer patients treated with radiation: role of prior chemotherapy and nuclear factor kappa B.

Background: Depression is common during and after breast cancer treatment. However, the role of specific therapeutic modalities and related biologic mechanisms remains unclear. Radiation is an essential component of breast-conserving therapy and may contribute to depression in patients with breast cancer through the activation of inflammatory pathways.

The Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits: a construct-validational analysis in an at-risk sample.

The Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits (ICU), developed to assess callous/unemotional (CU) traits, has recently experienced increased attention in light of the proposal to add a CU specifier to the conduct disorder diagnosis in DSM-5. In a sample of 70 at-risk adolescents (ages 13-17 years) in the foster care system who received a contemplative intervention program, the present study placed the ICU within a nomological network of correlates, including anxiety, depression, hopefulness, loneliness, and physiological measures of stress (e.g.

Allele-specific FKBP5 DNA demethylation mediates gene-childhood trauma interactions.

Although the fact that genetic predisposition and environmental exposures interact to shape development and function of the human brain and, ultimately, the risk of psychiatric disorders has drawn wide interest, the corresponding molecular mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. We found that a functional polymorphism altering chromatin interaction between the transcription start site and long-range enhancers in the FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5) gene, an important regulator of the stress hormone system, increased the risk of developing stress-related psychiatric disorders in adulthood by allele-specific, childhood trauma-dependent DNA demethylation in functional glucocorticoid response elements of FKBP5. This demethylation was linked to increased stress-dependent gene transcription followed by a long-term dysregulation of the stress hormone system and a global effect on the function of immune cells and brain areas associated with stress regulation.

Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli in an ordinary, non-meditative state.

The amygdala has been repeatedly implicated in emotional processing of both positive and negative-valence stimuli. Previous studies suggest that the amygdala response to emotional stimuli is lower when the subject is in a meditative state of mindful-attention, both in beginner meditators after an 8-week meditation intervention and in expert meditators. However, the longitudinal effects of meditation training on amygdala responses have not been reported when participants are in an ordinary, non-meditative state.

Predictors of remission in depression to individual and combined treatments (PReDICT): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Limited controlled data exist to guide treatment choices for clinicians caring for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Although many putative predictors of treatment response have been reported, most were identified through retrospective analyses of existing datasets and very few have been replicated in a manner that can impact clinical practice. One major confound in previous studies examining predictors of treatment response is the patient's treatment history, which may affect both the predictor of interest and treatment outcomes.

Engagement with Cognitively-Based Compassion Training is associated with reduced salivary C-reactive protein from before to after training in foster care program adolescents.

Background: Children exposed to early life adversity (ELA) have been shown to have elevated circulating concentrations of inflammatory markers that persist into adulthood. Increased inflammation in individuals with ELA is believed to drive the elevated risk for medical and psychiatric illness in the same individuals. This study sought to determine whether Cognitively Based Compassion Training (CBCT) reduced C-reactive protein (CRP) in adolescents in foster care with high rates of ELA, and to evaluate the relationship between CBCT engagement and changes in CRP given prior evidence from our group for an effect of practice on inflammatory markers.

Psychological stress in adolescent and adult mice increases neuroinflammation and attenuates the response to LPS challenge.

Background: There is ample evidence that psychological stress adversely affects many diseases. Recent evidence has shown that intense stressors can increase inflammation within the brain, a known mediator of many diseases. However, long-term outcomes of chronic psychological stressors that elicit a neuroinflammatory response remain unknown.

Inhibition of the NF-κB signaling pathway by the curcumin analog, 3,5-Bis(2-pyridinylmethylidene)-4-piperidone (EF31): anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.

Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) is a key signaling molecule in the elaboration of the inflammatory response. Data indicate that curcumin, a natural ingredient of the curry spice turmeric, acts as a NF-κB inhibitor and exhibits both anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Curcumin analogs with enhanced activity on NF-κB and other inflammatory signaling pathways have been developed including the synthetic monoketone compound 3,5-Bis(2-fluorobenzylidene)-4-piperidone (EF24).

Increased peripheral NF-κB pathway activity in women with childhood abuse-related posttraumatic stress disorder.

In addition to neuroendocrine changes PTSD pathophysiology may also involve dysfunction of the innate immune inflammatory system. PTSD patients have been found to exhibit increased concentrations of circulating inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, suggesting dysfunction of the innate immune inflammatory system. However, few studies have investigated molecular signaling pathways known to critically regulate inflammation.

Activation of cAMP-protein kinase A abrogates STAT5-mediated inhibition of glucocorticoid receptor signaling by interferon-alpha.

IFN-alpha has been found to inhibit glucocorticoid receptor (GR) function by activating janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK-STAT) inflammatory signaling pathways. In contrast, through stimulation of protein kinase A (PKA), cAMP has been shown to enhance GR function and can inhibit inflammatory signaling. We therefore examined whether increased cAMP-PKA pathway activation could reverse IFN-alpha-induced inhibition of GR function and whether decreased cAMP-PKA activity might exacerbate IFN-alpha effects on the GR.

Early activation of p38 mitogen activated protein kinase is associated with interferon-alpha-induced depression and fatigue.

Cytokine-induced stimulation of p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) has been shown to influence behaviorally-relevant pathophysiologic pathways including monoamine neurotransmission and neuroendocrine function and thus may contribute to behavioral changes that occur during chronic administration of the innate immune cytokine, interferon (IFN)-alpha. Accordingly, in the current study, phosphorylation (activation) of intracellular p38 MAPK in peripheral blood lymphocytes was analyzed by flow cytometry every 2 h for 12 h following the initial injection of IFN-alpha in eleven patients with chronic hepatitis C. Hourly assessments of plasma concentrations of adrenocorticotropic hormone, cortisol and interleukin-6 were also obtained.

A short review on the psychoneuroimmunology of posttraumatic stress disorder: from risk factors to medical comorbidities.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious and debilitating condition with a prevalence rate of approximately 8% in the United States. Given the number of veterans returning from conflicts around the globe with PTSD, and the substantial number of civilians experiencing traumas, new perspectives on the biology of PTSD are needed. Based on the concept that PTSD is a disorder of stress response systems, numerous studies have suggested changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) system function in patients with PTSD.