189 research outputs found
Hemispheric lateralisation and immune function: A systematic review of human research
This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Journal of Neuroimmunology. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2011 Elsevier B.V.Past studies examined relationships between hemispheric lateralisation (HL) and immune system functioning. However, there has been no up-dated systematic review of this research area. This article reviews relevant published studies, evaluates study quality and effect sizes. Eleven studies were selected: three revealing a relationship between weaker left hemisphere function and poorer immune function, three describing a relationship between weaker right hemisphere function and stronger immune functioning, and five describing both relationships. Mean effect-size of the studies was r = 0.536 (range 0.280â0.866). Collectively, studies point at left-HL and stronger immunity relationships. Limitations, mechanisms and clinical implications are discussed
Placental DEPTOR as a stress sensor during pregnancy
The author(s) has paid for this article to be freely available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Copyright @ 2012 Portland Press. The article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.DEPTOR [DEP-domain-containing and mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin)-interacting protein] is a modulator of mTOR signalling that binds to mTORC (mTOR complex) 1 and mTORC2. However, to date, the precise functions of DEPTOR are not fully elucidated, particularly in reproductive tissues where mTOR acts as a placental nutrient sensor. Pregnancy is associated with major physiological and psychosocial changes and adaptation to these changes is crucial for normal fetal development. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that maternal stress can affect mTOR signalling at term, and, as a result, influence placental growth. We first investigated the expression of DEPTOR, mTOR, rictor (rapamycin-insensitive companion of mTOR) and raptor (regulatory associated protein of mTOR) from human placentas (n=23) using Q-PCR (quantitative PCR), and correlated these data to days of pregnancy and maternal stress, as well as placental and fetal weight. Maternal and fetal cortisol levels were also measured. JEG-3 and BeWo cells, used as placental in vitro models, were treated with cortisol and DEPTOR expression was assessed using Q-PCR. DEPTOR appears to be the predominant transcript in the human placenta compared with mTOR, rictor and raptor in both term (n=13) and preterm (n=10) placentas as assessed by Q-PCR. There was a significantly lower level only of log-DEPTOR gene expression in the high stress group (-1.34) than in the low stress group (0.07; tââ=2.41, P=0.026). Interestingly, mothers with high stress had significantly elevated levels of cortisol (8555 pg/ml) compared with those with low stress (4900 pg/ml). We then tested the hypothesis that cortisol can directly affect DEPTOR expression. When BeWo cells were treated with cortisol 10, 100 and 1000 nM, the expression of DEPTOR was significantly down-regulated by 50, 41 and 39% (all P<0.05) respectively when compared with basal levels. Treatment of JEG-3 cells with cortisol, led to a significant decrease of DEPTOR expression at 100 nM (39%, P<0.05) and at 1000 nM (73%, P<0.01). These novel findings are indicative of a higher order of complexity of DEPTOR signalling in the human placenta that is affected by maternal stress, which could affect pregnancy outcome
Immune system function, stress, exercise and nutrition profile can affect pregnancy outcome: Lessons from a Mediterranean cohort
This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Pregnancy is associated with major physiological and future psychosocial changes, and maternal adaptation to these changes is crucial for normal foetal development. Psychological stress in pregnancy predicts an earlier birth and lower birth weight. Pregnancy-specific stress contributes directly to preterm delivery. The importance of nutrition and exercise during pregnancy with regard to pregnancy outcome has long been acknowledged. This importance has only been further emphasized by the recent changes in food quality and availability, lifestyle changes and a new understanding of foetal programming's effects on adult outcomes. We hypothesised that for a successful pregnancy certain events at a nutritional, immune, psycho-emotional and genetic level should be tightly linked. Therefore, in this study we followed an âintegrativeâ approach to investigate how maternal stress, nutrition, pregnancy planning and exercise influence pregnancy outcome. A key finding of our study is that there was a significant reduction in the intake of alcohol, caffeine-containing and sugary drinks during pregnancy. However, passive smoking in the household remained unchanged. In terms of immune profile, a significant inverse correlation was noted between difficulty to âfightâ an infection and number of colds (r=-0.289, P=0.003) as well as the number of infections (r=-0.446, P<0.0001) during pregnancy. The vast majority of the pregnant women acquired a more sedentary lifestyle in the third trimester. In planned, but not in unplanned, pregnancies stress predicted infant weight, independent of age and body mass index (BMI). Notably, in mothers with negative attitudes towards the pregnancy, those with an unplanned pregnancy gave birth to infants with significantly higher weights than those with planned pregnancies. Collectively these data suggest that there is a higher order of complexity, possibly involving gene-environment interactions that work together to ensure a positive outcome for the mother as well as the foetus
The effects of psychological inoculation on cognitive barriers against condom use in women with HIV: A controlled pilot study
Past studies have shown that in attempts to prevent HIV, health education yields little change in condom use. The reason may be that education fails to target barriers for changing behaviour. The present controlled pilot study tested whether psychological inoculation (PI) reduces such barriers for using male condoms. Twenty-two Nigerian women with HIV were randomly assigned to receive PI or health education (control). In the PI condition, women learned to refute sentences reflecting barriers against condom use, while controls learned how to use condoms and the consequences of their non-use. Barriers for condom use, self-efficacy to negotiate condom use with partners and actual condom use were self-reported before and one week after interventions. Results revealed that only in the PI group were there statistically significant increases in condom use negotiating self-efficacy and reductions in barriers concerning motivation, sexual satisfaction and partners. Controls reported no statistically significant changes. However, actual reported condom use was unchanged in both groups. Thus, it is feasible to conduct PI interventions in an African sample of HIV patients. Furthermore, PI can reduce cognitive barriers for condom use, while health education yields little changes in such outcomes over time. If replicated in larger samples with longer follow-ups, these findings could eventually have implications for HIV prevention in several world regions.Keywords: Psychological inoculation, condom use, HIV prevention, barriers, Africa.Des Ă©tudes antĂ©rieures ont montrĂ© que dans les tentatives pour prĂ©venir le VIH, les efforts dâĂ©ducation sanitaire modifiaient peu la frĂ©quence dâutilisation dâun prĂ©servatif. Câest peut-ĂȘtre parce que lâĂ©ducation ne parvient pas Ă cibler les obstacles liĂ©s au changement de comportement. La prĂ©sente Ă©tude pilote contrĂŽlĂ©e a tentĂ© de savoir si lâinoculation psychologique (IP) rĂ©duit ou non ces obstacles dans lâutilisation de prĂ©servatifs masculins. Vingt-deux femmes nigĂ©rianes contaminĂ©es par le VIH ont Ă©tĂ© dĂ©signĂ©es pour recevoir au hasard un PI ou une Ă©ducation sanitaire (tĂ©moin). Dans le cas du PI, les femmes ont appris Ă rĂ©futer des phrases reflĂ©tant des barriĂšres contre lâutilisation du prĂ©servatif, alors que les tĂ©moins ont appris Ă utiliser des prĂ©servatifs et les consĂ©quences de leur non-utilisation. Les obstacles pour lâutilisation du prĂ©servatif, le sentiment dâefficacitĂ© personnelle Ă nĂ©gocier lâutilisation du prĂ©servatif avec des partenaires et le rĂ©el taux dâutilisation du prĂ©servatif ont Ă©tĂ© auto-dĂ©clarĂ©s avant et une semaine aprĂšs les interventions. Les rĂ©sultats ont rĂ©vĂ©lĂ© que câest seulement dans le groupe dâIP quâil y avait eu des augmentations statistiquement significatives dans le sentiment dâefficacitĂ©personnelle Ă nĂ©gocier lâutilisation du prĂ©servatif, et dans la rĂ©ductions des obstacles concernant la motivation, la satisfaction sexuelle et les partenaires. Les tĂ©moins nâont signalĂ© aucun changement statistiquement significatif. Toutefois, le taux rĂ©el dâutilisation du prĂ©servatif est restĂ© inchangĂ© dans les deux groupes. Ainsi, il est possible de mener des interventions dâIP dans un Ă©chantillon de patients atteints du VIH et originaires dâAfrique. En outre, lâIP peut rĂ©duire les obstacles cognitifs pour lâutilisation du prĂ©servatif, alors que les efforts de politique sanitaire nâapportent guĂšre de changement au cours du temps dans les rĂ©sultats. Si les conclusions de cette Ă©tude pilote sont les mĂȘmes avec de plus grands Ă©chantillons avec davantage de suivis, elles pourraient Ă©ventuellement avoir des implications pour la prĂ©vention du VIH dans plusieurs rĂ©gions du monde
Differential expression of placental glucocorticoid receptors and growth arrest-specific transcript 5 in term and preterm pregnancies: evidence for involvement of maternal stress.
This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Pregnancy-specific stress predicts birth outcomes. We hypothesized that there is a maternal stress-GR interaction that can influence fetal birth weight. This study examined the relationship between mothers' stress and attitude towards their pregnancies, placental glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) and growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5) expression, and the status of GR polymorphism, with their infants' birth weights. GAS5 and GR α were the predominant transcripts in both term and preterm placentas, with GAS5 being primarily localized in the syncytiotrophoblasts. In an attempt to mimic moderate and high stress environment in vitro, BeWo and JEG-3 cytotrophoblast cell lines were treated with 10ânM-1000ânM cortisol. Only expression of GAS5 was significantly upregulated by cortisol in all treatments compared with basal levels, but none of the GRs changed expression significantly. In an attempt to assess a stress versus gene interaction, we studied four GR polymorphisms. In the homozygous group for Tth111I polymorphism, mothers with negative attitudes towards the pregnancy gave birth to infants with significantly lower birth weights compared to women with positive/neutral attitudes. None of the GR splice variants were associated with maternal stress. However, placental GAS5 levels were inversely correlated with maternal stress. This study points towards a potential gene-environment interaction that could be of predictive value for fetal weight.Brunel Open Access Publishing Fun
The relation between hemispheric lateralisation and measures of immune competence and adherence in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited - Copyright © 2012 Sumner et al
The pro-social neurohormone oxytocin reverses the actions of the stress hormone cortisol in human ovarian carcinoma cells in vitro
Copyright: © Mankarious et al. The journey patients with ovarian cancer travel from non-specific symptoms causing delayed diagnosis through surgery and chemotherapy, culminating in a 5-year survival rate of 43%, must have a profound and detrimental psychological impact on patients. Emerging studies link higher levels of oxytocin (OT) and increased social support, an independent prognostic factor in cancer, with a moderating effect on stress. In contrast, there is a known association of tumour cell proliferation with elevated cortisol (stress hormone) levels. We hypothesise therefore that there is cross-talk between cortisol and oxytocin at a molecular level. Three ovarian cancer cell lines, used as in vitro models, were treated with cortisol at concentrations mimicking physiological stress in vivo in the presence or absence of OT. OT reduced cell proliferation and migration, induced apoptosis and autophagy for all three cell lines, partially reversing the effects of cortisol. Quantitative RT-PCR of tissue taken from ovarian cancer patients revealed that the glucocorticoid receptor (splice variant GR-P) and OT receptor (OTR) were significantly upregulated compared to controls. Tissue microarray revealed that the expression of GRα was lower in the ovarian cancer samples compared to normal tissue. OT is also shown to drive alternative splicing of the GR gene and cortisol-induced OTR expression. OT was able to transactivate GR in the presence of cortisol thus providing further evidence of cross-talk in vitro. These data provide explanations for why social support might help distressed ovarian cancer patients and help define novel hypotheses regarding potential therapeutic interventions in socially isolated patients
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Imagined Journalists: New Framework for Studying MediaâAudiences Relationship in Populist Times
These are challenging times for journalistsâ relationship with their audiences. Attacks against âthe mediaâ and the increasing weaponization of social media to harass journalists have drawn the attention of scholars worldwide. In the current climate, journalists are not only distrusted but also hated, which creates a series of distinct ramifications. In this article, we suggest a new framework to study journalistsâaudiences relationship, particularly in times of hostile populism: the imagined journalists approach. A mirror image of the much-studied concept of imagined audiences, imagined journalists refers to the entirety of ideas, feelings, stereotypes, and imaginaries that audiences hold regarding their imagined news producers. It brings together the research on media trust, audiencesâ perceptions, antimedia populism, and the emotional turn in journalismâto generate a comprehensive understanding of peopleâs criticisms, narratives, and priorities. We demonstrate the potential of this approach by analyzing 1,215 responses to an open-ended question regarding journalistsâ traits in Israel in 2021. Employing qualitative and quantitative analyses, we find that: (a) right-wing and pro-populist voters hold more negative views of journalists, as expected; (b) voters express three different types of criticism of journalists (professional, personal, and national)âonly one of which directly relates to their professional conduct; (c) different types of voters express different types of criticism; and (d) while objectivity and bias remain main concerns, democracy is not a dominant factor in respondentsâ thinking on journalists. These findings contribute theoretically and methodologically to future research in the field, as well as to urgent attempts to improve our information environment
Spin-Dependent Enantioselective Electropolymerization
The electro-oxidative polymerization of an enantiopure chiral 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene monomer, performed using spin-polarized currents, is shown to depend on the electron spin orientation. The spin-polarized current is shown to influence the initial nucleation rate of the polymerization reaction. This observation is rationalized in the framework of the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect
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