scholarly journals Neuroimmunological Responses to Social Isolation

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karol Ramirez DDS, MSc, PhD
Keyword(s):  
Social Isolation ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Inflammatory Diseases ◽  
Psychosocial Stressors ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Chronic Activation ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Perceived Social Isolation ◽  
Pituitary Adrenal Axis

Objective social isolation and perceived social isolation are psychosocial stressors that may impair the normal functioning of the neuroimmune system. Chronic activation of the neuro-immuno-endocrine communication and the consequent loss of homeostasis may lead to the appearance of pathologies and associated mood disorders. For example, alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system dynamics may account for the observed predisposition to inflammatory diseases following chronic social stress. Therefore, it is necessary to further study the underlying mechanisms in social isolation in order to prevent its deleterious effects on health. The objective of this New Perspective article is to supplement the understanding of the neuroimmunological responses to social isolation and provide a basis for future research in this topic. 

scholarly journals Loneliness and Health in Older Adults: A Mini-Review and Synthesis

Gerontology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Ong ◽  
Bert N. Uchino ◽  
Elaine Wethington
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
The Status ◽  
Perceived Social Isolation

Increasing evidence suggests that perceived social isolation or loneliness is a major risk factor for physical and mental illness in later life. This review assesses the status of research on loneliness and health in older adults. Key concepts and definitions of loneliness are identified, and the prevalence, correlates, and health effects of loneliness in older individuals are reviewed. Theoretical mechanisms that underlie the association between loneliness and health are also described, and illustrative studies examining these mechanisms are summarized. Intervention approaches to reduce loneliness in old age are highlighted, and priority recommendations for future research are presented.

Hippocampal BDNF in physiological conditions and social isolation

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 675-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Zaletel ◽  
Dragana Filipović ◽  
Nela Puškaš
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Intracellular Signaling ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Bdnf Expression ◽  
Physiological Conditions ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Chronic Psychosocial Stress ◽  
Pituitary Adrenal Axis

AbstractExposure of an organism to chronic psychosocial stress may affect brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression that has been implicated in the etiology of psychiatric disorders, such as depression. Given that depression in humans has been linked with social stress, the chronic social stress paradigms for modeling psychiatric disorders in animals have thus been developed. Chronic social isolation in animal models generally causes changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning, associated with anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors. Also, this chronic stress causes downregulation of BDNF protein and mRNA in the hippocampus, a stress-sensitive brain region closely related to the pathophysiology of depression. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge regarding the structure, function, intracellular signaling, inter-individual differences and epigenetic regulation of BDNF in both physiological conditions and depression and changes in corticosterone levels, as a marker of stress response. Since BDNF levels are age dependent in humans and rodents, this review will also highlight the effects of adolescent and adult chronic social isolation models of both genders on the BDNF expression.

scholarly journals Investigating mindfulness influences on cognitive function: On the promise and potential of converging research strategies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanli Lin ◽  
Rongxiang Tang ◽  
Todd Samuel Braver
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Taxonomic Framework ◽  
Mechanisms Of Mindfulness ◽  
Organizing Principles

Research investigating the effects and underlying mechanisms of mindfulness on cognitive functioning has accelerated exponentially over the past two decades. Despite the rapid growth of the literature and its influential role in garnering public interest in mindfulness, inconsistent methods in defining and measuring mindfulness have yielded variable findings, which contribute to the overall dearth of clear generalizable conclusions. The focus of this article is to address the lack of cohesion in the collective methodologies used in this domain, by providing a new perspective grounded in classic cognitive and experimental psychology principles. We leverage the concept of converging operations to demonstrate how seemingly disparate research strategies can be integrated towards a more unified and systematic approach. An organizing taxonomic framework is described to provide useful structure in how mindfulness can be operationalized, measured, and investigated. We illustrate the rationale and core organizing principles of the framework through a selective review of studies on mindfulness and cognitive control. We then demonstrate the utility of the approach by showing how it can be applied to synthesize extant methodologies and guide the development of future research. Specific suggestions and examples pertaining to experimental design and statistical analysis are provided.

scholarly journals Perceived social isolation, evolutionary fitness and health outcomes: a lifespan approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1669) ◽  
pp. 20140114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise C. Hawkley ◽  
John P. Capitanio
Keyword(s):  
Social Isolation ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Poor Sleep ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Health And Fitness ◽  
Fitness And Health ◽  
Perceived Social Isolation ◽  
Evolutionary Fitness

Sociality permeates each of the fundamental motives of human existence and plays a critical role in evolutionary fitness across the lifespan. Evidence for this thesis draws from research linking deficits in social relationship—as indexed by perceived social isolation (i.e. loneliness)—with adverse health and fitness consequences at each developmental stage of life. Outcomes include depression, poor sleep quality, impaired executive function, accelerated cognitive decline, unfavourable cardiovascular function, impaired immunity, altered hypothalamic pituitary–adrenocortical activity, a pro-inflammatory gene expression profile and earlier mortality. Gaps in this research are summarized with suggestions for future research. In addition, we argue that a better understanding of naturally occurring variation in loneliness, and its physiological and psychological underpinnings, in non-human species may be a valuable direction to better understand the persistence of a ‘lonely’ phenotype in social species, and its consequences for health and fitness.

scholarly journals Potential Association Between the Low-Energy Plasma Structure and the Patchy Pulsating Aurora

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Liang ◽  
Y. Nishimura ◽  
E. Donovan ◽  
B. Yang ◽  
V. Angelopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Cold Plasma ◽  
Low Energy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Topside Ionosphere ◽  
Plasma Structure ◽  
Main Class ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Auroral Phenomena ◽  
Generation Mechanisms

While the pulsating auroral phenomena have been recognized and studied for decades, our understating of their generation mechanisms remains incomplete to date. In one main class of pulsating auroras which is termed “patchy pulsating auroras” (PPA), the auroral patches are found to basically maintain their shape and size over many pulsation cycles. Also, PPAs are repeatedly found to essentially co-move with the ExB convection drift. The above properties led many researchers to hypothesize that PPA might connect to a structure of enhanced cold plasma in the magnetosphere. In this study, we review the existing evidence, and provide new perspective and support, of the low-energy plasma structure potentially associated with PPA. Based on observations from both the magnetosphere and the topside ionosphere, we suggest that ionospheric auroral outflows might constitute one possible source mechanism of the flux tubes with enhanced low-energy plasma that connect to the PPA. We also review the existing theories of pulsating auroras, with particular focus on the role of low-energy plasma in these theories. To date, none of the existing theories are complete and mature enough to offer a quantitatively satisfactory explanation of pulsating auroras. At last, we suggest a few future research directions to advance our understanding of pulsating auroras: a) more accurate measurements of the cold plasma density, b) more developed theories of the underlying mechanisms of ELF/VLF wave modulation, and c) auxiliary processes in the topside ionosphere or near-Earth region accompanying pulsating auroras.

The Need to Belong and the Relationship Between Loneliness and Health

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freda-Marie Hartung ◽  
Britta Renner
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Health State ◽  
Need To Belong ◽  
First Year University ◽  
Perceived Social Isolation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Humans are social animals; consequently, a lack of social ties affects individuals’ health negatively. However, the desire to belong differs between individuals, raising the question of whether individual differences in the need to belong moderate the impact of perceived social isolation on health. In the present study, 77 first-year university students rated their loneliness and health every 6 weeks for 18 weeks. Individual differences in the need to belong were found to moderate the relationship between loneliness and current health state. Specifically, lonely students with a high need to belong reported more days of illness than those with a low need to belong. In contrast, the strength of the need to belong had no effect on students who did not feel lonely. Thus, people who have a strong need to belong appear to suffer from loneliness and become ill more often, whereas people with a weak need to belong appear to stand loneliness better and are comparatively healthy. The study implies that social isolation does not impact all individuals identically; instead, the fit between the social situation and an individual’s need appears to be crucial for an individual’s functioning.

scholarly journals Research and application progress of lignin-based composite membrane

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Youjing Li ◽  
Fen Li ◽  
Ying Yang ◽  
Baocai Ge ◽  
Fanzhu Meng
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Waste Product ◽  
Functional Materials ◽  
Polymeric Materials ◽  
Composite Membranes ◽  
Organic Polymer ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sustainable Resources ◽  
New Perspective

Abstract In view of the serious environmental pollution, which is the greatest problem the world is facing, and the continuous consumption of raw materials, it is imminent to search for green and sustainable resources. Lignin is an organic polymer that exists widely in nature, and if it can be transformed from traditional low-value waste product with low range of applications to functional materials with high application prospects, it can be of great significance to alleviate environmental pollution and shortage of fossil resources. One of the functional applications of lignin involves its use to fabricate composite with other polymeric materials, which can then be used to prepare membrane materials. This review summarizes the recent research and application progress of combining lignin with polypropylene, polyvinyl alcohol, starch, cellulose, chitosan, and other polymeric materials to prepare composite membranes; and summarizes the future development direction of lignin-based composite membranes. We hope this review may provide a new perspective to the understanding of lignin-based composite membranes and a useful reference for future research.

scholarly journals Structural and Functional Remodeling of Mitochondria in Cardiac Diseases

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 4167
Author(s):  
Xiaonan Sun ◽  
Jalen Alford ◽  
Hongyu Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Regulatory Network ◽  
Molecular Basis ◽  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cardiac Diseases ◽  
Functional Remodeling ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Mitochondrial Remodeling ◽  
Normal Cellular Function

Mitochondria undergo structural and functional remodeling to meet the cell demand in response to the intracellular and extracellular stimulations, playing an essential role in maintaining normal cellular function. Merging evidence demonstrated that dysregulation of mitochondrial remodeling is a fundamental driving force of complex human diseases, highlighting its crucial pathophysiological roles and therapeutic potential. In this review, we outlined the progress of the molecular basis of mitochondrial structural and functional remodeling and their regulatory network. In particular, we summarized the latest evidence of the fundamental association of impaired mitochondrial remodeling in developing diverse cardiac diseases and the underlying mechanisms. We also explored the therapeutic potential related to mitochondrial remodeling and future research direction. This updated information would improve our knowledge of mitochondrial biology and cardiac diseases’ pathogenesis, which would inspire new potential strategies for treating these diseases by targeting mitochondria remodeling.

scholarly journals Thermoplastic Pultrusion: A Review

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 180
Author(s):  
Kirill Minchenkov ◽  
Alexander Vedernikov ◽  
Alexander Safonov ◽  
Iskander Akhatov
Keyword(s):  
Composite Structures ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Thermoplastic Composites ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Transportation Industry ◽  
Architectural Engineering ◽  
Simulation Techniques ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Many ◽  
Lower Production

Pultrusion is one of the most efficient methods of producing polymer composite structures with a constant cross-section. Pultruded profiles are widely used in bridge construction, transportation industry, energy sector, and civil and architectural engineering. However, in spite of the many advantages thermoplastic composites have over the thermoset ones, the thermoplastic pultrusion market demonstrates significantly lower production volumes as compared to those of the thermoset one. Examining the thermoplastic pultrusion processes, raw materials, mechanical properties of thermoplastic composites, process simulation techniques, patents, and applications of thermoplastic pultrusion, this overview aims to analyze the existing gap between thermoset and thermoplastic pultrusions in order to promote the development of the latter one. Therefore, observing thermoplastic pultrusion from a new perspective, we intend to identify current shortcomings and issues, and to propose future research and application directions.

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