chronic stress – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Study in Mice Raises Question: Could PTSD Involve Immune Cell Response to Stress?

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2014Scienceanxiety, anxiety like behavior, behavioral marker, behavioral terms, cellular component, central nervous system, chronic stress, immune cell response, inflammation, inflammatory immune response, john sheridan, jonathan godbout, monocytes, monocytes in brain, mood disorders, ohio state university, post traumatic, pro inflammatory proteins, ptsd, single acute stressor, stress, stress disorder, study in mice, symptom

After chronic stress, primed immune cells in spleen lead to excessive reaction to later event

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Chronic stress that produces inflammation and anxiety in mice appears to prime their immune systems for a prolonged fight, causing the animals to have an excessive reaction to a single acute stressor weeks later, new research suggests.

After the mice recovered from the effects of chronic stress, a single stressful event 24 days later quickly returned them to a chronically stressed state in biological and behavioral terms. Mice that had not experienced the chronic stress were unaffected by the single acute stressor. (more…)

Fat cells in breast may connect social stress to breast cancer

By Guest PostJune 23, 2013Healthacaca, acetyl coa carboxykase, acly, aggressive breast cancer, antigen mice, atp citrate lyase, breast, carcinoma in situ, chronic stress, erin wonder, estrogen, fat cells, female mice, gene, her2, hexokinase, hk2, hormones, leptin, lumpectomy, mammary fat, mammary glands, martha mcclintock, matthew brady, maxwell skor, metabolism, metabolism of glucose, multiple tissues, paul volden, progesterone, receptor, social stress, suzanne conzen, sv40 t, triple negative, tumor growth, tumors, university of chicago

Local chemical signals released by fat cells in the mammary gland appear to provide a crucial link between exposure to unrelenting social stressors early in life, and the subsequent development of breast cancer, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the July 2013 issue of the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

Some forms of stress exposure may be associated with an increased risk of certain types of aggressive breast cancer. But the mechanisms linking the biology of social stress to cancer have been hard to identify. To unravel that mechanism, the researchers looked for differences between mice raised in small groups and those that grow up in an isolated setting—an established model of chronic stress without social supports. (more…)

Yale Team Discovers How Stress and Depression Can Shrink the Brain

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2012Health, Scienceanimal model, antidepressant therapy, ashley lepack, bhavya voleti, brain, brain cell, brain mass, brain volume, chronic stress, cognitive impairment, depression, emotional, gata1, gene, gene activation, genetic switch, h j kang, mounira banasr, pattern, pawel licznerski, prefrontal cortex, ronald duman, shrink, stress, symptoms of depression, synaptic connection, transcription factor, yale

Major depression or chronic stress can cause the loss of brain volume, a condition that contributes to both emotional and cognitive impairment. Now a team of researchers led by Yale scientists has discovered one reason why this occurs — a single genetic switch that triggers loss of brain connections in humans and depression in animal models.

The findings, reported in the Aug. 12 issue of the journal Nature Medicine, show that the genetic switch known as a transcription factor represses the expression of several genes that are necessary for the formation of synaptic connections between brain cells, which in turn could contribute to loss of brain mass in the prefrontal cortex. (more…)

Yoga Reduces Stress; Now It’s Known Why

By Guest PostJuly 25, 2012Healthalzheimer, antiviral proteins, biological marker, cardiovascular disease, chanting, chronic health problem, chronic stress, david s black, dementia, depression, emotional distress, gene, gene expression, helen lavretsky, immune system, inflammation, kirtan kriya meditation, kkm, michael r irwin, mortality, neuroscience, steve cole, stress, yoga, yogic meditation

UCLA study helps caregivers of people with dementia

Six months ago, researchers at UCLA published a study that showed using a specific type of yoga to engage in a brief, simple daily meditation reduced the stress levels of people who care for those stricken by Alzheimer’s and dementia. Now they know why.

As previously reported, practicing a certain form of chanting yogic meditation for just 12 minutes daily for eight weeks led to a reduction in the biological mechanisms responsible for an increase in the immune system’s inflammation response. Inflammation, if constantly activated, can contribute to a multitude of chronic health problems. (more…)

Relationship Between Social Status and Wound-Healing in Wild Baboons

By Guest PostMay 26, 2012Nature, Scienceamboseli baboon research project, amboseli national park, anthropology, baboon, beth archie, carolyn ehardt, chronic stress, george gilchrist, immune function, jeanne altmann, Kenya, kinyua warutere, national science foundation, old age, relationship, social status, susan alberts, university of notre dame, wild baboons, wound healing

Findings show it’s best to be “top baboon”

Turns out it’s not bad being top dog, or in this case, top baboon.

Results of a study by University of Notre Dame biologist Beth Archie and colleagues from Princeton University and Duke University finds that male baboons that have a high rank within their society recover more quickly from injuries, and are less likely to become ill than other males.

The finding is somewhat surprising, given that top-ranked males also experience high stress, which should suppress immune responses. (more…)

Regrowing Hair: UCLA-VA Researchers May Have Accidentally Discovered a Solution

By Guest PostFebruary 18, 2011Health, Scienceaging, astressin b, bald, brain gut interactions, chronic stress, corticotrophin releasing factor, crf, gastrointestinal function, graying of hair, hair growth, hair loss, hair restoration remedies, hucksters, humans, mice age, million mulugeta, minoxidil, miracle solvents, peptide, stress, stress related hormone, treat hair loss

It has been long known that stress plays a part not just in the graying of hair but in hair loss as well. Over the years, numerous hair-restoration remedies have emerged, ranging from hucksters’ “miracle solvents” to legitimate medications such as minoxidil. But even the best of these have shown limited effectiveness.

Now, a team led by researchers from UCLA and the Veterans Administration that was investigating how stress affects gastrointestinal function may have found a chemical compound that induces hair growth by blocking a stress-related hormone associated with hair loss — entirely by accident. (more…)

Tag Archives: chronic stress