Stress in Biological News

Short stressful events may improve working memory

... BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Experiencing chronic stress day after day can produce wear and tear on the ... effect on learning and emotion. However, acute stress -- a short stressful incident -- may enhance ... using rodents as an animal model, that acute stress can produce a beneficial effect on learning and ...

Baylor researchers unravel mystery of DNA conformation

... to "flip out" of the sequence, thus relieving the stress that the molecule experiences. "It always ... said Zechiedrich. "We wanted to know if torsional stress was the force that accounted for the base ... job." When the base flips out, it relieves the stress on the DNA, which then relaxes the rest of the ...

The battle for CRTC2: How obesity increases the risk for diabetes

... half the story. "When a cell starts to sense stress a red light goes on, which slows down the ... Montminy. "This process, which is known as ER stress response, is abnormally active in livers of obese ... blood glucose levels. We asked whether chronic ER stress in obesity leads to abnormal activation of the ...

Stress puts double whammy on reproductive system, fertility

... until now, missing piece of the puzzle about how stress causes sexual dysfunction and infertility. Scientists know that stress boosts levels of stress hormones - glucocorticoids such as cortisol - ...

Chemical in blood may explain susceptibility to bladder pain

... to fetuses a genetic change associated with the stress response. Buffington suggests that such a ... in response to stress. "When products of the stress response cross the placenta, they can change gene ... to do with the magnitude and quality of the stress response. I think it's another useful way to look ...

Stanford scientists find heat-tolerant coral reefs that may resist climate change

... relationship. But when rising temperatures stress the algae, they stop producing food, and the ... biology of corals and their zooxanthellae under stress is shockingly understudied, he added. To ... protein biomarkers that indicate signs of heat stress and potential heat resistance, Oliver explained. ...

Study finds link between individual stress and adolescent obesity

... AMES, Iowa -- stress may indeed be a direct contributor to childhood ... University study finding that increased levels of stress in adolescents are associated with a greater ... wrote that the adolescents' relationship with stress and becoming overweight may be a result of ...

Tree survival skills

... they become established in a landscape. Multiple stress factors can mean the difference between survival ... may occur in the course of a few hours. All these stress factors can add up to significant trauma, shock, ... vulnerable trees. Although any one of these stress factors may be the sole cause of a tree's death ...

Synthetic chemical offers solution for crops facing drought

... annually. Plants use specialized signals, called stress hormones, to sense difficult times and adapt to ... to enhance survival. Of the various stress hormones, abscisic acid (ABA), produced naturally ... stable synthetic chemicals on plants to enhance stress tolerance during times of drought and improve ...

Caffeine appears to be beneficial in males -- but not females -- with Lou Gehrig's disease

... One environmental factor is diet. With oxidative stress (which damages the cells) a common concern in ALS ... acid supplementation in improving oxidative stress and its associated cell death mechanisms. A ... Molecular measures: Markers of oxidative stress (4-HNE; 3-NY), antioxidant enzyme protein content ...

Laughter remains good medicine

... with an autoimmune disease. He theorized that if stress could worsen his condition, as some evidence ... laughter reduced the levels of three detrimental stress hormones. Cortisol (termed "the steroid stress hormone"), epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) ...

Caffeine appears to be beneficial in males -- but not females -- with Lou Gehrig's disease

... One environmental factor is diet. With oxidative stress (which damages the cells) a common concern in ALS ... acid supplementation in improving oxidative stress and its associated cell death mechanisms. A ... Molecular measures: Markers of oxidative stress (4-HNE; 3-NY), antioxidant enzyme protein content ...

Laughter remains good medicine

... with an autoimmune disease. He theorized that if stress could worsen his condition, as some evidence ... laughter reduced the levels of three detrimental stress hormones. Cortisol (termed "the steroid stress hormone"), epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) ...

HIV-1 protease inhibitor induced oxidative stress in pancreatic B-cells: thymoquinone protection

... insulin secretion mediated through the oxidative stress pathway. They report a significant decrease in ... up-regulated during nelfinavir induced oxidative stress and directly affected the ATP levels in these ... the hypothesis that nelfinavir induced oxidative stress was responsible for the deleterious effects of ...

Lincoln Park Zoo scientists awarded National Institutes of Health grant

... of wild female chimpanzees and discover how stress relates to maternal behavior and ultimately to ... The zoo's project combines new field data on stress levels with a wealth of long-term behavioral data ... investigate the relationship between offspring stress and health." By combining long-term and new ...

New and unexpected mechanism identified how the brain responds to stress

... Calgary, AB -- Chronic stress takes a physical and emotional toll on our bodies ... a medical puzzle to understand how we respond to stress at the cellular level in the brain. Being able to quickly and successfully respond to stress is essential for survival. Using a rat model, ...

Forget the antioxidants? McGill researchers cast doubt on role of free radicals in aging

... PLoS Genetics , are calling the entire oxidative stress theory into question. Their results show that ... said most of the evidence for the oxidative stress theory is circumstantial, meaning oxidative stress could just as easily be a result of aging as its ...

CSHL researchers identify gene that helps plant cells keep communication channels open

... signals and environmental cues such as damage or stress trigger overproduction of a substance called ... of callose decreased. GAT1 counters oxidative stress One of the distress signals that spur cells ... an impact on numerous cellular events, including stress responses, cell death, and gene expression. In ...

Stress may hasten the growth of melanoma tumors

... the last two years that looked for links between stress hormones and diseases like cancer, is published ... occurring catecholamine that functions as a stress hormone. In times of increased stress, levels of ... any IL-6 at all. "What this tells us is that stress might have a worse effect on melanoma that is in ...

Stress disrupts human thinking, but the brain can bounce back

... recuperate quickly. Less than a month after the stress goes away, they are back to normal. "The message ... Sinai Medical Center have shown that repeated stress on rats shriveled nerve cells of the medial ... and men have some basic processes in common that stress would also impair performance on ...

Mutant host cell protein sequesters critical HIV-1 element

... with Nef correlated with its ability to induce stress granules in the cytoplasm. stress granules regulate gene expression at the ... nef mRNA was targeted to and enriched in the stress granules. "Taken together, these results ...

Understanding how oxidative stress impairs endothelial progenitor cell function

... reveals that how EPCs respond to oxidantive stress appears to be a critical determinant in ... of heart attack or stroke by reversing oxidative stress at the cellular level," said study author Laura ... implicated in cardiovascular diseases, oxidative stress is also a factor in diabetes. "Further studies ...

Light pollution offers new global measure of coral reef health

... boat activity. Each of these sources puts stress on reefs: urban areas cause sewage and polluted ... the higher the index number and the greater the stress on the reefs. While previous assessments of ... to the study. "The lights themselves are a stress in terms of changing the ecology in the ...

Coping and copulation behavior may help calculate diabetes risk

... more monogamous species had a higher level of stress hormones and a superior ability to regulate blood ... other research groups demonstrates a link between stress hormone levels and monogamy, the UC Irvine group propose that superior stress tolerance and blood sugar regulation is related ...

Mitochondria could be a target for therapeutic strategy for Alzheimer's disease patients

... amyloid beta (Aβ)-mediated mitochondrial stress through an interaction with CypD, which is linked ... energy, are central players in mediating neuronal stress relevant to the pathogenesis or development of ... mitochondrial Aβ-mediated and synaptic stress that links to the mitochondrial permeability ...

Salmon smolt survival similar in Columbia and Fraser rivers

... mortality of Columbia River smolts caused by the stress of passage through the hydrosystem that is not ... Schreck, a leading expert on the impacts of stress on fish, last year received the Meritorious ... the past 36 years has centered on the causes of stress in juvenile and adult salmon and steelhead, and ...

Growing fuel and medicine: Advancing biofuels and plant-produced therapeutics

... such as photosynthesis, cell division, and stress tolerance. Although ascorbate as a chemical ... One of our current objectives is to study the stress tolerance and growth of these high AsA lines. ... lead to delayed senescence, increased biomass, stress tolerance, and enhanced phytoremediation ...

Stress may make you itch

... Berlin, Germany Current research suggests that stress may activate immune cells in your skin, resulting ... such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. stress can trigger an outbreak in patients suffering ... skin conditions. This cross talk between stress perception, which involves the brain, and the ...

GUMC and Oak Ridge National Labs announce unique research partnership

... the interface between genetic susceptibility to stress and obesity using a systems genetics framework. ... interactions between adverse responses to stress and risk for obesity. Genotype data are integrated with physiological, biochemical and molecular stress response phenotypes to identify components of the ...

Researchers discover that growing up too fast may mean dying young in honey bees

... to mitigate the effects of ROS, and the oxidative stress model of aging and senescence suggests that ... to use such an approach to test the oxidative stress model of aging in a free-living organism. ... should have strong affects on cellular oxidative stress and antioxidant mechanisms, especially in flight ...

Sowing a future for peas

... develop pea varieties able to withstand drought stress and climate change. The research also shows that ... reported to change in laboratory based drought stress experiments, few have identified how such ... to changes in water availability. Drought stress also induced changes in compounds that could have ...

Oxidative stress: Mechanism of cell death clarified

... signaling cascade. The fact that oxidative stress is a major inducer of cell death is a well ... Conrad: "So far, it was assumed that oxidative stress is detrimental to cells by unspecific oxidation ... signaling pathway, describing how oxidative stress is recognized in the body and translated into ...

Blood pressure response to daily stress provides clues for better hypertension treatment

... regulates blood pressure in response to daily stress is the focus of a study geared toward helping ... under normal everyday conditions which is what stress is and take that information back to the clinic ... to learn more about what factors like genes, stress and obesity contribute, their synergy and novel ...

Low-gravity training machine reduces joint, muscle impacts, says CU-Boulder study

... Kram's team that charts vertical and horizontal stress load on each foot during locomotion, measuring ... stay in top running shape while recovering from a stress fracture in her femur in time for the 2008 ... device for people recovering from surgeries, stress fractures and other lower body injuries, Kram ...

Measuring the stress of forested areas

... available in Spanish . Plants undergo stress because of lack of water, due to the heat or the ... adverse environmental factors that generate stress situations. Thus, in winter and in summer, the ... Some plants are incapable of withstanding this stress unable to dissipate the excess energy, ...

UCLA study identifies mechanism behind mind-body connection

... FINDINGS: UCLA scientists found that the stress hormone cortisol suppresses immune cells' ability ... explain why the cells of persons under chronic stress have shorter telomeres. IMPACT: The study reveals how stress makes people more susceptible to illness. The ...

VIB and Bayer join forces for plant research

... in the area of 'stressed plants'. Plants and stress All over the world, today's agriculture is ... much precipitation, late ground frost, and other stress factors. Depending on the intensity of this plant ... the molecular mechanisms that plants use in stress conditions, and this project has now been ...

Forum to focus on math and mechanics behind life processes

... for example. The cells next to it feel that stress and respond to it, perhaps contracting too and generating stress that more cells feel. This stress could act as a signal. In embryo development, ...

A nutritional supplement could improve the clinical situation of ICU patients

... some critical patients could improve their oxide stress and, consequently, their clinical situation by ... food. This study has proved that the oxide stress increase during patients stays in the Intensive ... of antioxidant food consumption. The oxide stress is caused by the imbalance between the reactive ...

Biosensor for measuring stress in cells

... difference between health and disease. Oxidative stress arises when this balance shifts towards ... to measure the level of oxidation and, thus, the stress status of living cells. This will now be feasible ... the value to the fluorescent protein. The stress biosensor developed by Dick and colleagues ...