Omega-3 fatty acids reduce depressive symptoms only among the socially stressed: A corollary of the social signal transduction theory of depression.

Objective: There is mixed evidence about whether omega-3 fatty acids reduce depressive symptoms. We previously reported that 4 months of omega-3 supplementation reduced inflammatory responsivity to a lab-based social stressor. In another study, we showed that those with exaggerated inflammatory responsivity to a social stressor had the greatest depressive symptom increases over time, especially if they experienced frequent social stress.

Antibiotic treatment inhibits paclitaxel chemotherapy-induced activity deficits in female mice.

Chemotherapy, a mainstay in the treatment of cancer, is associated with severe and debilitating side effects. Side effects can be physical (e.g.

Behavioral and brain reactivity to uncertain stress prospectively predicts binge drinking in youth.

Prior studies show that individuals with alcohol use disorder exhibit exaggerated behavioral and brain reactivity to uncertain threats (U-threat). It is posited this brain-based factor emerges early in life and contributes to the onset and escalation of alcohol problems. However, no study to date has tested this theory using a longitudinal within-subjects design.

Sterols and immune mechanisms in asthma.

The field of sterol and oxysterol biology in lung disease has recently gained attention, revealing a unique need for sterol uptake and metabolism in the lung. The presence of cholesterol transport, biosynthesis, and sterol/oxysterol-mediated signaling in immune cells suggests a role in immune regulation. In support of this idea, statin drugs that inhibit the cholesterol biosynthesis rate-limiting step enzyme, hydroxymethyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase, show immunomodulatory activity in several models of inflammation.

Your suffering is my stressor: Proinflammatory gene expression rises with spousal distress in middle-aged and older couples.

Marital quality shares ties to inflammation-related conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Lab-based studies implicate hostility during marital conflict as a mechanism via inflammatory reactivity, but little attention has been paid to the inflammatory aftermath of other marital exchanges. A spouse's emotional distress is an important but overlooked context for middle-aged and older couples, as conflict declines and networks shrink.

The role of microglia in 67NR mammary tumor-induced suppression of brain responses to immune challenges in female mice.

It is poorly understood how solid peripheral tumors affect brain neuroimmune responses despite the various brain-mediated side effects and higher rates of infection reported in cancer patients. We hypothesized that chronic low-grade peripheral tumor-induced inflammation conditions microglia to drive suppression of neuroinflammatory responses to a subsequent peripheral immune challenge. Here, Balb/c murine mammary tumors attenuated the microglial inflammatory gene expression responses to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and live Escherichia coli (E.

A troubled heart: Mood disorder history longitudinally predicts faster cardiopulmonary aging in breast cancer survivorship.

Objective: Breast cancer survivors live longer due to more advanced cancer treatments; however, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading non-cancer cause of death in breast cancer survivors. Previous studies have shown that depression is associated with an increased risk of CVD development. This study investigated whether depressive symptoms or mood disorder history, either independently or in combination with cardiotoxic treatments, predicted older cardiopulmonary age using a novel index-the Age Based on Exercise Stress Test (ABEST)-among breast cancer survivors.

Paternal deprivation induces vigilance-avoidant behavior and accompanies sex-specific alterations in stress reactivity and central proinflammatory cytokine response in California mice (Peromyscus californicus).

Rationale: Early-life stress (ELS) can increase anxiety, reduce prosocial behaviors, and impair brain regions that facilitate emotional and social development. This knowledge greatly stems from assessing disrupted mother-child relationships, while studies investigating the long-term effects of father-child relationships on behavioral development in children are scarce. However, available evidence suggests that fathers may uniquely influence a child's behavioral development in a sex-specific manner.

Conflicts hurt: social stress predicts elevated pain and sadness after mild inflammatory increases.

Individuals respond differently to inflammation. Pain, sadness, and fatigue are common correlates of inflammation among breast cancer survivors. Stress may predict response intensity.

Young adult and aged female rats are vulnerable to amygdala-dependent, but not hippocampus-dependent, memory impairment following short-term high-fat diet.

Global populations are increasingly consuming diets high in saturated fats and refined carbohydrates, and such diets have been well-associated with heightened inflammation and neurological dysfunction. Notably, older individuals are particularly vulnerable to the impact of unhealthy diet on cognition, even after a single meal, and pre-clinical rodent studies have demonstrated that short-term consumption of high-fat diet (HFD) induces marked increases in neuroinflammation and cognitive impairment. Unfortunately though, to date, most studies on the topic of nutrition and cognition, especially in aging, have been performed only in male rodents.

EBV dUTPase: A Novel Modulator of Inflammation and the Tumor Microenvironment in EBV-Associated Malignancies.

There is increasing evidence that put into question the classical dogma that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) exists in cells as either a lytic virus in which new progeny is produced or in a latent state in which no progeny is produced. Notably, a third state has now been described, known as the abortive-lytic phase, which is characterized by the expression of some immediate early (IE) and early (E) genes, but no new virus progeny is produced. While the function of these IE and E gene products is not well understood, several recent studies support the concept they may contribute to tumor promotion by altering the tumor microenvironment (TME).

CD8 T cells contribute to diet-induced memory deficits in aged male rats.

We have previously shown that short-term (3-day) high fat diet (HFD) consumption induces a neuroinflammatory response and subsequent impairment of long-term memory in aged, but not young adult, male rats. However, the immune cell phenotypes driving this proinflammatory response are not well understood. Previously, we showed that microglia isolated from young and aged rats fed a HFD express similar levels of priming and proinflammatory transcripts, suggesting that additional factors may drive the exaggerated neuroinflammatory response selectively observed in aged HFD-fed rats.

DNA methylation GrimAge acceleration in US military veterans with PTSD.

Epigenetic alterations in DNA methylation might mediate gene expression effects of trauma underlying PTSD symptoms, or effects of PTSD on related health problems. PTSD is associated with all-cause morbidity and premature mortality, suggesting accelerated biological aging. We measured genome-wide DNA methylation (Illumina MethylationEPIC BeadChip) in whole blood in a treatment study for combat-related PTSD - "PROGrESS", a multisite RCT comparing sertraline plus enhanced medication management (SERT + EMM), prolonged exposure (PE) therapy plus placebo (PE + PLB), and the combination (SERT + PE).

TAM receptor signaling dictates lesion location and clinical phenotype during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), induced by the adoptive transfer of Th17 cells, typically presents with ascending paralysis and inflammatory demyelination of the spinal cord. Brain white matter is relatively spared. Here we show that treatment of Th17 transfer recipients with a highly selective inhibitor to the TAM family of tyrosine kinase receptors results in ataxia associated with a shift of the inflammatory infiltrate to the hindbrain parenchyma.

How aging couples' emotional and physiological associations change across positive, supportive, and conflictual discussions: Roles of capitalization and responsive behaviors.

Background: Couples' emotions and physiology change across interactions and based on behaviors. Aging couples' emotions and physiology may be closely related as they spend more time together and rely on each other for support. We examined aging couples' emotional and physiological associations across multiple indices and marital interactions; we also assessed how couples' capitalization and responsive behaviors during the first discussion were protective in subsequent emotional conversations.

Developing and testing an integrated patient mHealth and provider dashboard application system for type 2 diabetes management among Medicaid-enrolled pregnant individuals based on a user-centered approach: Mixed-methods study.

Background: A tailored and integrated technology solution (patient mHealth application and provider dashboard) can provide a 360° view of Medicaid-enrolled patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) during pregnancy that could improve health outcomes and address health inequities.

Objectives: To develop a set of user specifications for the mHealth and dashboard applications, develop prototypes based on user needs, and collect initial impressions of the prototypes to subsequently develop refined tools that are ready for deployment.

Methods: Study activities followed a double-diamond framework with a participatory design mindset.

Utility of Wrist-Wearable Data for Assessing Pain, Sleep, and Anxiety Outcomes After Traumatic Stress Exposure.

Importance: Adverse posttraumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae after traumatic stress exposure are common and have higher incidence among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Pain, depression, avoidance of trauma reminders, reexperiencing trauma, anxiety, hyperarousal, sleep disruption, and nightmares have been reported. Wrist-wearable devices with accelerometers capable of assessing 24-hour rest-activity characteristics are prevalent and may have utility in measuring these outcomes.

Tissue specific signature of HHV-6 infection in ME/CFS.

First exposure to various human herpesviruses (HHVs) including HHV-6, HCMV and EBV does not cause a life-threatening disease. In fact, most individuals are frequently unaware of their first exposure to such pathogens. These herpesviruses acquire lifelong latency in the human body where they show minimal genomic activity required for their survival.

A sex difference in mouse dopaminergic projections from the midbrain to basolateral amygdala.

Background: Dopaminergic circuits play important roles in the motivational control of behavior and dysfunction in dopaminergic circuits have been implicated in several psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and depression. While these disorders exhibit different incidence rates in men and women, the potential sex differences in the underlying neural circuits are not well-understood. Previous anatomical tracing studies in mammalian species have revealed a prominent circuit projection connecting the dopaminergic midbrain ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the basolateral amygdala (BLA), which is involved in emotional processing and associative learning.

Multiparity Differentially Affects Specific Aspects of the Acute Neuroinflammatory Response to Traumatic Brain Injury in Female Mice.

Pregnancy is associated with profound acute and long-term physiological changes, but the effects of such changes on brain injury outcomes are unclear. Here, we examined the effects of previous pregnancy and maternal experience (parity) on acute neuroinflammatory responses to lateral fluid percussion injury (FPI), a well-defined experimental traumatic brain injury (TBI) paradigm. Multiparous (2-3 pregnancies and motherhood experiences) and age-matched nulliparous (no previous pregnancy or motherhood experience) female mice received either FPI or sham injury and were euthanized 3 days post-injury (DPI).

Discrete role for maternal stress and gut microbes in shaping maternal and offspring immunity.

Psychosocial stress is prevalent during pregnancy, and is associated with immune dysfunction, both for the mother and the child. The gut microbiome has been implicated as a potential mechanism by which stress during pregnancy can impact both maternal and offspring immune function; however, the complex interplay between the gut microbiome and the immune system is not well-understood. Here, we leverage a model of antimicrobial-mediated gut microbiome reduction, in combination with a well-established model of maternal restraint stress, to investigate the independent effects of and interaction between maternal stress and the gut microbiome in shaping maternal and offspring immunity.