Stress in Biological News

Hormone levels contribute to stress resilience

Philadelphia, PA, 5 August 2009 - It is important to understand what biological mechanisms contribute to an individual's capacity to be resilient under conditions of extreme stress, such as those regularly experienced by soldiers, police, and firefighters. Dr. Charles A. Morgan III and his collea...

Study finds link between individual stress and adolescent obesity

AMES, Iowa -- Stress may indeed be a direct contributor to childhood obesity. That's according to a new Iowa State University study finding that increased levels of stress in adolescents are associated with a greater likelihood of them being overweight or obese. The study of 1,011 adolescents (...

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

Researchers at the Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana have discovered that the HIV-1 protease inhibitors (PIs), such as nelfinavir included in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 patients, induce deleterious effects on insulin s...

Understanding how oxidative stress impairs endothelial progenitor cell function

INDIANAPOLIS Although its been over a decade since endothelial progenitor cells or EPCs, cells that circulate in the blood repairing and replacing the cells that line blood vessels, were identified, the field is still evolving. EPCs are now being studied as biomarkers to assess the risk of future...

Children distressed by family fighting have higher stress hormones

Children who become very upset when their parents fight are more likely to develop psychological problems. But little is known about what happens beyond these behavioral reactions in terms of children's biological responses. A new study has found that children who are very distressed when their pa...

In child care, relationships with caregivers key to children's stress levels

How children are affected by out-of-home care depends not only on the qualities of their teacher and the classroom, but also on the nature of the children's relationship with their caregivers. That's the finding of a new study on the level of the stress hormone cortisol in children in full-day chi...

Exposing chicks to maternal stress leads to long-term reproductive success

Do mothers purposely expose their offspring to their own stress? If so, why? The question arises because it is widely accepted that exposure to maternal stress during pre-natal development can have negative impacts on offspring following birth. To examine why a stressed mother would allow this...

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

How the body regulates blood pressure in response to daily stress is the focus of a study geared toward helping people whose pressure is out of control. "Research shows that two-thirds of patients' high blood pressure is not controlled despite the best efforts of their doctors. That is terribl...

Measuring the stress of forested areas

This release is available in Spanish . Plants undergo stress because of lack of water, due to the heat or the cold or to excess of light. A research team from the University of the Basque Country have analysed the substances that are triggered in plants to protect themselves, with the...

Biosensor for measuring stress in cells

Cancer, nervous system disorders such as Parkinsons disease, cardiovascular disorders and old age have one thing in common: Both in afflicted tissue and in aging cells, scientists have observed oxidative changes in important biomolecules. These are caused by reactive oxygen molecules, including th...

Mental stress reduces blood flow to the heart in patients with gene variation

GAINESVILLE, Fla. University of Florida researchers have identified a gene variation in heart disease patients who appear especially vulnerable to the physical effects of mental stress to the point where blood flow to the heart is greatly reduced. Searching for the presence of this gene may b...

New study finds uncontrollable stress worsens symptoms of endometriosis

SAN DIEGO, CA Endometriosis is a poorly understood condition that incapacitates and affects the productivity and lifestyle of millions of women around the world. In the US, it affects approximately six million women and adolescents at a cost of some $1.6 billion per year. It is a chronic painful...

New study finds anticipating a laugh reduces our stress hormones

SAN DIEGO, CA In 2006 researchers investigating the interaction between the brain, behavior, and the immune system found that simply anticipating a mirthful laughter experience boosted health-protecting hormones. Now, two years later, the same researchers have found that the anticipation of a posi...

Moderate prenatal exposure to alcohol and stress in monkeys can cause touch sensitivity

A new study on monkeys has found that moderate exposure to alcohol and stress during pregnancy can lead to sensitivity to touch in the monkeys babies. In human children, sensitivity to touch is one of a number of characteristics of the approximately 5 percent of children who over-respond to senso...

Asthma link to post-traumatic stress disorder, says Mailman School of Public Health study

November 19, 2007 For the first time, a study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, is linking asthma with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among adults. The study of male twins who were veterans of the Vietnam era suggests that the association between asthma...

Cell response to stress signals predicts tumors in women with common pre-breast cancer

A specific biological response to cellular stress may predict the likelihood of future tumor formation of the most common, non-invasive form of pre-malignant breast cancer-- ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS. This information could potentially be used in a clinical setting to determine which ...

Relationship between environmental stress and cancer elucidated

One way environmental stress causes cancer is by reducing the activity level of an enzyme that causes cell death, researchers say. They found that stress-inducing agents, such as oxidative stress, recruit a protein called SENP1 that cuts a regulator called SUMO1 away from the enzyme SIRT1 so it...

Social stress + darkness = increased anxiety

Philadelphia, PA, October 17, 2007 Just in time for Halloween, researchers are releasing new data that show darkness increases the impact of social stress, in an article scheduled for publication in the November 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry. As children and adults alike gear up for the an...

Researchers find evidence linking stress caused by the Sept. 11 disaster with low birth weights

Researchers have found evidence of an increase in low birth weights among babies born in and around New York City in the weeks and months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Writing in the journal Human Reproduction [1], they suggest that stress may have contributed to the effec...

Boston College profs study oxidative stress subcellular to discover its role in diseases

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (9-14-07) Oxidative stress is known to underlie many human diseases including atherosclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. A team of scientists from Boston College has found a means to discover more about what role oxidative stress plays in the development of di...

Heat stress influences low conception of dairy herds

Reproductive efficiency has suffered a dramatic decrease since the mid 1980s despite rapid worldwide progress in genetics and management of high producing dairy herds. The reasons for the decline in fertility are multifactorial and cannot be solely attributed to an increase in milk production. We ...

Stop and smell the flowers -- the scent really can soothe stress

Feeling stressed? Then try savoring the scent of lemon, mango, lavender, or other fragrant plants. Scientists in Japan are reporting the first scientific evidence that inhaling certain fragrances alter gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that can reduce stress levels. Their study appears in ...

DNA repair mechanisms relocate in response to stress

Like doctors making house calls, some DNA repair enzymes can relocate to the part of the cell that needs their help, a collaborative team of scientists at Emory University School of Medicine has found. The signal that prompts relocation is oxidative stress, an imbalance of cellular metabolism c...

New and unexpected mechanism identified how the brain responds to stress

Calgary, AB -- Chronic stress takes a physical and emotional toll on our bodies and scientists are working on piecing together 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 surv...

Unexplained chest pain can be due to stress

Each year, many people seek emergency treatment for unexplained chest pains. A thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, indicates several common factors among those affected, including stress at work, anxiety, depression and a sedentary lifestyle. Chest pain is a c...

Early parenting plays key role in infants' physiological response to stress

In infancy, genes are the key influence on a child's ability to deal with stress. But as early as 6 months of age, parenting plays an important role in changing the impact of genes that may put infants at risk for responding poorly to stress. That's the message from a new study by researchers a...

Carnegie Mellon, Pitt Team to study psychosocial stress

PITTSBURGH Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, led by Pitt Psychology Professor Thomas Kamarck, are studying the effectiveness of a wrist-mounted instrument for measuring psychosocial stress exposure during the course of daily life. Kamarck and his colle...

Prenatal Stress Keeps Infants, Toddlers up at Night, Study Says

Anxious or depressed mothers-to-be are at increased risk of having children who will experience sleep problems in infancy and toddlerhood, finds a study that published this month in Early Human Development. While this finding presents itself as important news to tired new moms and dads f...

Red flag for repetitive stress injuries identified for first time in humans

For the first time in humans, scientists have found early indicators of inflammation ?potential warning signs ?in work-related injuries caused by repetitive motion. Their findings could someday lead to early detection and prevention of debilitating conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and t...

New compound prevents alcoholic behavior, relapse in animals by blocking stress response

A study of alcohol-dependent animals shows that a newly discovered compound that blocks chemical signals active during the brain’s response to stress effectively stops excessive drinking and prevents relapse. The new, synthetic compound, known as MTIP, also muted the anxiety that typically devel...

Coral stress 'like never in history'

Large scale coral die-offs are now occurring more frequently than at any time in the last 11 000 years, according to a new study by Australian-based scientists. Investigations by Associate Professor John Pandolfi, of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensl...

Adults who go to bed lonely get stress hormone boost next morning

A new study that takes a rare look at the physiological, social and emotional dynamics of day-to-day experiences in real-life settings shows that when older adults go to bed lonely, sad or overwhelmed, they have elevated levels of cortisol shortly after waking the next morning. Elevated levels of...

Just like us, social stress prompts hamsters to overeat, gain weight

Put a mouse or a rat under stress and what does it do? It stops eating. Humans should be so lucky. When people suffer nontraumatic stress they often head for the refrigerator, producing unhealthy extra pounds. When Syrian hamsters, which are normally solitary, are placed in a group-living situati...

Key stress protein linked to toxicities responsible for Parkinson's, Alzheimer's

Researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research have discovered a mechanistic link between cellular stress caused by free radicals and accumulation of misfolded proteins that lead to nerve cell injury and death in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease. ...

Research Permits First-Ever Visualization of Psychological Stress in the Human Brain

Using a novel application of an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) technique, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have, for the first time, visualized the effects of everyday psychological stress in a healthy human brain. Their work, performed at Penn's Cent...

Penguin chicks exposed to human visitors experience spike in stress hormone

Newly hatched magellanic penguin chicks in breeding grounds with a large number of human visitors show a significant spike in levels of a stress-related hormone compared to chicks hatched in areas not visited by humans, a University of Washington research team has found. It wasn't until chicks wi...

A little stress gives beneficial oomph! to immune system

New research in mice provides more evidence that a brief bout of stress can give the immune system a beneficial boost ?under certain conditions. Laboratory results showed that acute stress ?stress that lasts for minutes to hours ?temporarily mobilized all major types of immune cells, or leukocyt...

AGU journal highlights -- Aug. 6, 2009

...nt out that the study helps clarify the dynamic mechanisms that relate wind stress to ocean mass flows in the Southern Ocean and demonstrates the usefulness o... winds, Vialard et al. analyze satellite observations of sea level and wind stress as well as a new data set of currents recorded at 15 degrees North on the w...

Mary had a lot of lambs: Researchers identify way to accelerate sheep breeding

... association over generations, the researchers said, as recombination could occur between the marker and the functional gene. Thus, the researchers stress that it will be very important to validate the gene's ability to indicate for aseasonal breeding each time the allele is bred into a new sheep populat...

Brain difference in psychopaths identified

...s criminal behaviour (eg rape and murder) and repeat offending, the biological basis of psychopathy remains poorly understood. Also some investigators stress mainly social reasons to explain antisocial behaviours. To date, nobody has investigated the 'connectivity' between the specific brain regions implica...