Cue-induced cocaine craving enhances psychosocial stress and vice versa in chronic cocaine users

There is evidence that stress and craving contribute to the development, maintenance, and relapse in cocaine use disorder. Previous research has shown altered physiological responses to psychosocial stress as well as increased vegetative responding to substance-related cues in chronic cocaine users (CU). However, how psychosocial stress and cue-induced craving interact in relation to the physiological response of CU is largely unknown. Therefore, we investigated the interaction between acute psychosocial stress and cocaine-cue-related reactivity in 47 CU and 38 controls. Participants were randomly exposed first to a video-based cocaine-cue paradigm and second to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or vice versa in a crossed and balanced design to investigate possible mutually augmenting effects of both stressors on the physiological stress response. Plasma cortisol, ACTH, and noradrenaline as well as subjective stress and craving were assessed repeatedly over the course of the experimental procedure. Growth models and discontinuous growth models were used to estimate the responses during the cocaine-cue paradigm and TSST. Overall, both groups did not differ in their endocrinological responses to the TSST but CU displayed lower ACTH levels at baseline. The TSST did not elevate craving in CU. However, if the cocaine-cue video was shown first, CU displayed an enhanced cortisol response to the subsequent TSST. Cocaine-cues robustly evoked craving in CU but no stress response, while cue-induced craving was intensified after the TSST. Taken together, CU did not show an altered acute stress response during the TSST but stress and craving together seem to have mutually augmenting effects on their stress response.

Influence of Psychological Supervision on Athletes’ Compliance, Mental Elasticity Characteristics and Acute Stress Disorder in Traumatic Fracture Rehabilitation Training

Background: We aimed to explore the effect of psychological supervision on rehabilitation training compliance, mental elasticity characteristics, and acute stress disorder. Methods: From March 2018 to March 2020, 128 athletes with traumatic fractures in Zhoukou Sports Club in China were divided into two groups using the random number table method, The intervention group (64 athletes) received psychological supervision during the rehabilitation training, while the control group (64 athletes) without psychological supervision. The rehabilitation training compliance in the two groups was observed, and the mental elasticity characteristics and acute stress disorder changes were compared between the two groups before and post-intervention. Results: The compliance rate during postoperative rehabilitation training in the intervention group is 92.19%, which was significantly higher than 73.44% in the control group (P<0.05). Compared with the scores before intervention, the CD-RISC score and SASRD score of the two groups were significantly lower than the scores post-intervention. The SMFA function and vexation indexes of the intervention group in three months after operation were significantly lower than those of the control group (P<0.05). The QOL scores of the intervention group in social, environmental, psychological, and physiological fields were significantly higher than those of the control group in three months after operation (P<0.05). Conclusion: The implementation of psychological supervision for athletes with traumatic fractures could improve rehabilitation training compliance, increase the level of mental elasticity, and relieve acute stress disorder.

Chronic Social Defeat Stress Shifts Peripheral Circadian Clocks in Male Mice in a Tissue-Specific and Time-of-Day Dependent Fashion

Uncontrollable stress is linked to the development of many diseases, some of which are associated with disrupted daily rhythms in physiology and behavior. While available data indicate that the master circadian pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is unaffected by stress, accumulating evidence suggest that circadian oscillators in peripheral tissues and organs can be shifted by a variety of stressors and stress hormones. In the present study, we examined effects of acute and chronic social defeat stress in mice and addressed the question of whether effects of uncontrollable stress on peripheral clocks are tissue specific and depend on time of day of stress exposure. We used mice that carry a luciferase reporter gene fused to the circadian clock gene Period2 (PER2::LUC) to examine daily rhythms of PER2 expression in various peripheral tissues. Mice were exposed to social defeat stress in the early (ZT13-14) or late (ZT21-22) dark phase, either once (acute stress) or repeatedly on 10 consecutive days (chronic stress). One hour after the last stressor, tissue samples from liver, lung, kidney, and white adipose tissue (WAT) were collected. Social defeat stress caused a phase delay of several hours in the rhythm of PER2 expression in lung and kidney, but this delay was stronger after chronic than after acute stress. Moreover, shifts only occurred after stress in the late dark phase, not in the early dark phase. PER2 rhythms in liver and WAT were not significantly shifted by social defeat, suggesting a different response of various peripheral clocks to stress. This study indicates that uncontrollable social defeat stress is capable of shifting peripheral clocks in a time of day dependent and tissue specific manner. These shifts in peripheral clocks were smaller or absent after a single stress exposure and may therefore be the consequence of a cumulative chronic stress effect.

MALTRATO INFANTIL Y TRASTORNOS CLÍNICOS POST-VIOLENCIA EN NIÑOS MENORES DE CINCO AÑOS

Introducción: El maltrato infantil (MI), se ha convertido en un problema de salud pública que impregna todos los sectores sociales y cuyo impacto resulta devastador no solamente durante su infancia, sino a lo largo de toda su vida. Objetivo: Describir el maltrato infantil y trastornos clínicos post-violencia en niños menores de cinco años. Métodos: A documentary research was carried out in databases such as SciElo, Pubmed, Google Scholar and, LATINDEX, using the descriptors: child abuse, child abuse, family relationships, family violence, published in the period 2010-2021, in languages English, Spanish and Portuguese. Resultados: Se considera que, el maltrato infligido en los primeros cinco años de la vida del menor, repercute en el desarrollo neurobiológico y psicológico, el cual tiende a ser más rápido que en los años siguientes de las etapas del desarrollo. El maltrato infantil, no solo consiste en la presencia de hematomas, quemaduras, traumas craneales, la negligencia y la desnutrición. Se asume el maltrato infantil como todo aquel daño emocional que acompaña a los actos abusivos o negligentes que se traducen como trastorno de estrés agudo y el trastorno de estrés postraumático, con su repercusión a largo plazo. Conclusiones: El maltrato infantil puede afectar el exitoso desarrollo del niño no sólo en un determinado período de desarrollo, sino a lo largo de toda su vida. Un equipo multidisciplinario, que ejecute estrategias de prevención, la necesidad inclusión de todos los países en esta lucha y entender que la prevención es la única salida Palabras claves: maltrato a los niños, abuso de los niños, relaciones familiares, violencia familiar ABSTRACT Introduction: Child abuse (MI) has become a public health problem that permeates all social sectors and whose impact is devastating not only during childhood, but throughout their entire lives. Objective: To describe child abuse and post-violence clinical disorders in children under five years of age. Methods: A documentary investigation was carried out. Through the search for scientific articles, in databases such as SciElo, Pubmed, Google Scholar and, LATINDEX, using the descriptors: child abuse, child abuse, family relationships, family violence. With inclusion criteria: full articles, in national and international journals and organizations such as WHO, PAHO, published in the period 2010-2021, in English, Spanish and Portuguese languages. Results: It is considered that the abuse inflicted in the first five years of the child's life affects the neurobiological and psychological development, which tends to be faster than in the following years of the development stages. Child abuse not only consists of bruises, burns, head trauma, neglect and malnutrition. Child abuse is assumed as all the emotional damage that accompanies abusive or negligent acts that translate as acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, with its long-term repercussions. Conclusions: Child abuse can affect the successful development of the child not only in a certain period of development, but throughout their entire life. A multidisciplinary team, which executes prevention strategies, the need to include all countries in this fight, and understands that prevention is the only way out Keywords: child abuse, child abuse, family relationships, family violence

Meaningfulness Buffers and Crisis of Meaning Mediates The Longitudinal Effect of Covid-19 Stress On General Mental Distress

Background: Reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic are diverse. People who experience the situation as stressful (COVID-19 stress) appear vulnerable to developing general mental distress. Moreover, existential crises can arise. The identification of buffering factors and their effect over time is therefore highly relevant. The current study examined longitudinal protective effects of meaningfulness and self-control and negative effects of crisis of meaning on general mental distress. Methods: N=431 participants from Germany and Austria (mean age: 42 years) completed an online survey in both April/May (T1) and July/August 2020 (T2). We examined (i) whether two personal resources, meaningfulness, and self-control, measured at T1, moderated the longitudinal effect of COVID-19 stress (T1) on general mental distress (T2), and (ii) whether crisis of meaning (T1) mediated the latter effect. Results: Meaningfulness and self-control predicted lower symptoms of anxiety and depression over time, and crisis of meaning predicted higher symptoms. Meaningfulness but not self-control buffered the longitudinal effect of COVID-19 stress on general mental distress. COVID-19 stress was associated with crisis of meaning which, in further consequence, predicted general mental distress three months later. Conclusions: Meaningfulness and self-control appear to have generally protective effects on psychological distress. Moreover, meaningfulness seems to be particularly protective when people feel burdened by the situation. Strengthening this resource is thus especially appropriate for vulnerable populations. Measures that support meaningfulness will also prevent the emergence of crises of meaning, which can be triggered by acute stress reactions and appear to affect mental health in the longer term.