Psychoneuroendocrinology
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Jan 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialProgesterone and mental imagery interactively predict emotional memories.
Different lines of research suggest that the consolidation of emotional memories is influenced by (a) endogenous levels of sex hormones, and (b) individual differences in the capacity to use vivid mental imagery. No studies to date have investigated how these factors may interact to influence declarative emotional memories. This study examined the interacting influence of progesterone and mental imagery strength on emotional memory consolidation. ⋯ Two days later, all participants returned for a surprise free recall memory test. The interaction of progesterone and mental imagery strength significantly predicted recall of visually processed, but not verbally processed, negative images. These data suggest that mental imagery strength may be one mechanism underlying the documented association between endogenous progesterone and enhanced emotional memory performance in the literature.
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Jan 2015
Cortisol levels in former preterm children at school age are predicted by neonatal procedural pain-related stress.
Early life stress can alter hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis function. Differences in cortisol levels have been found in preterm infants exposed to substantial procedural stress during neonatal intensive care, compared to infants born full-term, but only a few studies investigated whether altered programming of the HPA axis persists past toddler age. Further, there is a dearth of knowledge of what may contribute to these changes in cortisol. ⋯ Importantly, in the preterm group, greater neonatal procedural pain-related stress (adjusted for morphine) was associated with lower cortisol levels on the study day (p=.044) and lower diurnal cortisol at home (p=.023), with effects found primarily in boys. In addition, child attention problems were negatively, and thought problems were positively, associated with the cortisol response during cognitive assessment on the study day in preterm children. Our findings suggest that neonatal pain/stress contributes to altered HPA axis function up to school-age in children born very preterm, and that sex may be an important factor.
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Jan 2015
Obesity and major depression: Body-mass index (BMI) is associated with a severe course of disease and specific neurostructural alterations.
Obesity is one of the most prevalent somatic comorbidities of major depressive disorder (MDD). Both disorders rank among the leading challenges in public health and have been independently characterized by gray matter alterations in partly overlapping brain structures. Hence, it appears crucial to investigate the possibility of a shared neurostructural correlate of this frequent comorbidity as well as its clinical implications. ⋯ Moreover, obesity and chronicity of disorder seem to share overlapping neurostructural anomalies in prefrontal areas involved in emotion regulation and impulse control. Hence, our data provide evidence for specific morphological alterations underlying this prevalent comorbidity. It further underlines the clinical importance of preventive measures against obesity accompanying MDD treatment.
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Jan 2015
Psychobiological stress response to a simulated school shooting in police officers.
Police work is one of the most demanding professions with various sources of high occupational stress. Among the most demanding tasks are amok situations, such as school shootings. Hardly anything is known about endocrine and cardiovascular markers in safety professionals during emergency situations in real life and how this relates to stress perception and management. This study will therefore explore police officers' stress responses to a reality-based school shooting simulation assessing neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and psychological stress markers. ⋯ Autonomic but not endocrine stress markers increased to a simulated school shooting, which were further related to the subjective experience of the simulation. Our results provide a more in-depth picture of stress responses in such situations, which will in the long run raise the possibility to refine training programs, design more effective stress-management strategies for these critical incidents, and improve performance but also coping with work-related stress.
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Psychoneuroendocrinology · Jan 2015
White matter abnormalities in Gulf War veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder: A pilot study.
Gulf War veterans were exposed to environmental toxins not present in other combat theaters resulting in a unique biological signature that only partially resembles that seen in other combat veterans with PTSD. Thus it is important to determine if brain abnormalities seen in non-Gulf War veterans with PTSD are also present in Gulf War veterans. In this pilot study, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography was used to assess the ultra-structural integrity of fronto-limbic white matter connections in Gulf War veterans with and without PTSD. The effects of chronic multisymptom illness on DTI measures was also evaluated. ⋯ The preliminary findings indicate increased structural integrity - supporting enhanced connectivity - between right amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex in PTSD. This effect was strongest among Gulf War veterans without chronic multisymptom illness. The association of both MD and FA in the right cingulum with PTSD severity, and with heightened glucocorticoid responsivity, suggests that these DTI findings are a reflection of current PTSD illness expression. Although based on a small sample, these microstructural observations are consistent with a functional model suggesting increased amygdala responsivity in association with anterior cingulate modulation in PTSD.