Writing about life goals: Effects on rumination, mood and the cortisol awakening response

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 1410-1419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Teismann ◽  
Serkan Het ◽  
Matthias Grillenberger ◽  
Ulrike Willutzki ◽  
Oliver T Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Life Goals ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Cortisol Awakening Response ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Vulnerability Factor ◽  
Healthy Participants ◽  
Assessment Results

Rumination is a vulnerability factor for the onset and maintenance of emotional distress. This study examined whether writing about life goals is associated with a decrease in ruminative thinking and a reduced cortisol awakening response. 68 healthy participants either wrote about their personal life goals or a control topic. Writing about life goals was associated with a modest decrease in ruminative thinking and a reduced cortisol awakening response at the post-intervention assessment. Results provide initial evidence that writing about life goals can be a helpful aid in decreasing rumination and physiological stress reactivity.

Associations between multisystem stress reactivity and peer nominated aggression in early childhood vary by sex

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1888-1898
Author(s):  
Melissa J. Hagan ◽  
Danielle S. Roubinov ◽  
W. Thomas Boyce ◽  
Nicole R. Bush
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Relational Aggression ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Physical Aggression ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Kindergarten Children ◽  
Peer Ratings ◽  
Cortisol Reactivity ◽  
Physiological Stress Response

AbstractThere is emerging evidence that the development of problematic aggression in childhood may be associated with specific physiological stress response patterns, with both biological overactivation and underactivation implicated. This study tested associations between sex-specific patterns of stress responses across the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and peer nominations of aggression among 271 kindergarten children (Mean age = 5.32 years; 52% Female; 44% White). Upon entry to kindergarten, children participated in a multidomain standardized stress paradigm. Changes in pre-ejection period (PEP) and salivary cortisol were assessed. On a separate day, children provided peer ratings of physical and relational aggression in a standardized interview. As expected, there was a significant three-way interaction between PEP, cortisol reactivity, and sex, but only for physical aggression. Among boys, cortisol reactivity was positively associated with physical aggression only for those with higher SNS reactivity. Findings suggest that for boys, asymmetrical and symmetrical HPA/SNS reactivity may be associated with lower and higher risk for peer-directed physical aggression, respectively. Understanding the complex associations between multisystem physiology, child sex and peer-directed aggression in early childhood may offer insight into individual differences underlying the emergence of behavioral dysregulation in early peer contexts.

The effects of using an ergonomic aid on the physical workload and body discomfort reported by pre-adolescent farmers in West Bengal, India

Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Banibrata Das ◽  
Somnath Gangopadhyay ◽  
Tirthankar Ghosh
Keyword(s):  
Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Handgrip Strength ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Work Conditions ◽  
Physical Workload ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Work Related

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the major health hazards among farmers. Pre-adolescents are mainly associated with agricultural work due to poor socioeconomic conditions. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to implement a new ergonomics aid for the betterment of job procedures and improvement of productivity, health, and safety of the preadolescent farmers. METHODS: 100 male and 100 female preadolescent farmers were randomly selected from the villages of Tarakeswar, West Bengal, India, to evaluate and reduce work-related musculoskeletal disorders, physiological stress. Modified Nordic questionnaires, Body Part Discomfort (BPD) scale, and handgrip strength were assessed before and after using the ergonomics aid. RESULTS: The results of the study show that there was a significant change (decrease) in discomfort in the lower back, wrists, shoulder, and hands among preadolescent farmers when using the newly designed ergonomic aid. Handgrip strength increased and physiological stress was decreased among preadolescent farmers in post-intervention than pre-intervention in just after work conditions. Productivity has been increased in farming by decreasing absenteeism from work with the use of ergonomic aid. CONCLUSION: This study concludes that productivity has been increased in farming by decreasing absenteeism from work as well as by using the ergonomic aid the discomfort feeling has been decreased markedly.

Biomarkers of pain in infants and children

2021 ◽  
pp. 412-421
Author(s):  
Naama Rotem-Kohavi ◽  
Susanne Brummelte ◽  
Kenneth D. Craig ◽  
Tim F. Oberlander
Keyword(s):  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Motor Disabilities ◽  
Reflecting Function ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
In Infants And Children

Biomarkers are commonly used in clinical care and research as indicators of diseases and physiological states. Preferably, a biomarker should be readily accessible, low in cost, easy to interpret, highly specific, and sensitive to health and disease. Owing to the complexity of the pain system, no unidimensional reliable biomarker for pain has been identified that meets all of these criteria to date. In children, neurologically dependent developmental changes, maturation of physiological stress reactivity systems, and life experience add additional layers of complexity to the use of biomarkers of pain. Nevertheless, readily available and reliable biomarkers reflecting function of the pain system would greatly enhance timely and appropriate understanding and treatment of pain, especially in infants and children with communication, cognitive, and motor disabilities. This chapter examines currently available pain-related biomarkers, their use, and limitations.

scholarly journals Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Caregiver Burden Inventory

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Vázquez ◽  
Patricia Otero ◽  
Miguel Simón ◽  
Ana Bueno ◽  
Vanessa Blanco
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Caregiver Burden ◽  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Emotional Burden ◽  
Social Burden ◽  
Physical Burden ◽  
Total Burden

Although the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) is the most widely used multidimensional burden instrument for assessing perceived burden of caregivers, there is no data on its psychometric properties in Spanish, nor on caregivers of dependent persons with various diseases. The objective of this study was to translate the CBI into Spanish and validate it in caregivers of dependent persons with various diseases. Trained evaluators administered the CBI and assessed emotional distress and probable mental disorder in 201 caregivers (87.1% women, mean age 56.2 years). The internal consistency of the CBI was 0.89 (0.74–0.83 among the subscales). There was a significant correlation of emotional distress with both the total burden and each subscale (p < 0.001 in all cases). A total score of 39 and scores of 16, 9, 8, 4, and 2 in burden per time dedicated to care, personal life burden, physical burden, social burden, and emotional burden were suitable cut-off points to discriminate caregivers with probable mental disorder (sensitivity = 63.0%–75.6%, specificity = 63.4%–74.4%). To achieve a greater goodness of fit, the model was re-specified, resulting in a shortened (15-item) instrument. The internal consistency reliability coefficients of the 15-item CBI were satisfactory (Cronbach α = 0.83; 0.77–0.86 among the subscales). Within the 15-item CBI, emotional distress was significantly correlated with the total burden, personal life burden, physical burden, social burden (p < 0.001 in all those cases), and emotional burden (p = 0.001). A total score of 25 and scores of 12, 5, 5, 3, and 1, respectively, in the subscales were identified as cut-off points to discriminate caregivers with probable mental disorder (sensitivity = 46.2%–70.6%, specificity = 43.9%–79.3%). Therefore, the 15-item CBI validly measured caregiver burden with better fit and more parsimoniously than the original CBI.

scholarly journals Resistant starch supplementation increases crypt cell proliferative state in the rectal mucosa of older healthy participants

2020 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 374-385
Author(s):  
Fiona C. Malcomson ◽  
Naomi D. Willis ◽  
Iain McCallum ◽  
Long Xie ◽  
Arthur C. Ouwehand ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colorectal Cancer ◽  
Cell Cycle ◽  
Resistant Starch ◽  
Dietary Intervention ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Rectal Mucosa ◽  
Crypt Cell ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Healthy Participants

AbstractThere is strong evidence that foods containing dietary fibre protect against colorectal cancer, resulting at least in part from its anti-proliferative properties. This study aimed to investigate the effects of supplementation with two non-digestible carbohydrates, resistant starch (RS) and polydextrose (PD), on crypt cell proliferative state (CCPS) in the macroscopically normal rectal mucosa of healthy individuals. We also investigated relationships between expression of regulators of apoptosis and of the cell cycle on markers of CCPS. Seventy-five healthy participants were supplemented with RS and/or PD or placebo for 50 d in a 2 × 2 factorial design in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (the Dietary Intervention, Stem cells and Colorectal Cancer (DISC) Study). CCPS was assessed, and the expression of regulators of the cell cycle and of apoptosis was measured by quantitative PCR in rectal mucosal biopsies. SCFA concentrations were quantified in faecal samples collected pre- and post-intervention. Supplementation with RS increased the total number of mitotic cells within the crypt by 60 % (P = 0·001) compared with placebo. This effect was limited to older participants (aged ≥50 years). No other differences were observed for the treatments with PD or RS as compared with their respective controls. PD did not influence any of the measured variables. RS, however, increased cell proliferation in the crypts of the macroscopically-normal rectum of older adults. Our findings suggest that the effects of RS on CCPS are not only dose, type of RS and health status-specific but are also influenced by age.

scholarly journals Understanding depressive symptoms through psychological traits and physiological stress reactivity

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1575654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilmari Määttänen ◽  
Joni Martikainen ◽  
Pentti Henttonen ◽  
Julius Väliaho ◽  
Maisa Thibault ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Psychological Traits
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