Stress burden and neuroendocrine regulation of cytokine production in patients with ulcerative colitis in remission
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic relapsing and remitting inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affecting the mucosal layer of the large intestine. Disease flares are characterized by intestinal mucosal inflammation, bloody diarrhea, fecal urgency, and abdominal pain. Despite considerable progress in research, the aetiology of UC remains elusive and is thought to be multifactorial, involving genetic and environmental factors, immune dysregulation, and alterations in intestinal microflora (Ananthakrishnan, 2015). (Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology)
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 7, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Harald Engler, Sigrid Elsenbruch, Laura Rebernik, Janina K öcke, Holger Cramer, Margarita Schöls, Jost Langhorst Source Type: research

Marital Distress, Depression, and a Leaky Gut: Translocation of Bacterial Endotoxin as a Pathway to Inflammation
Unhappy marriages take a toll on mental and physical health. For example, marital stress worsened the prognosis for recurrent coronary events three-fold (Orth-Gomer et al., 2000). Among patients with congestive heart failure, marital quality was as strong a predictor of four-year survival as well as patients ’ illness severity (Coyne et al., 2001). A meta-analysis reported that the relationships between marital quality and clinical health endpoints had statistical effect sizes similar in magnitude to the health effects of diet and exercise (Robles et al., 2014). (Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology)
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 6, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser, Stephanie J. Wilson, Michael L. Bailey, Rebecca Andridge, Juan Peng, Lisa M. Jaremka, Christopher P. Fagundes, William B. Malarkey, Bryon Laskowski, Martha A. Belury Source Type: research

The placebo and its effects: A psychoneuroendocrinological perspective
Placebos have a longstanding history, in which their effects to the most part have either been utilized to separate the therapeutic wheat from the interventional chaff or to comfort patients considered untreatable or incurable (Kaptchuk, 1998). But although its use in randomized placebo-controlled trials can be traced back to Henry K. Beecher (1955) notorious claim that the placebo having powerful clinical effects in a third of patients some 60 years ago, the underlying principle – to control incidental and to manipulate characteristic treatment constituents – was employed much earlier and also in non-medical settings....
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 3, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Jens Gaab Tags: Review Source Type: research

Childhood maltreatment, pituitary volume and adolescent hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis – evidence for a maltreatment-related attenuation
Child maltreatment is a widespread phenomenon affecting the lives of millions of children all over the world (Stoltenborgh et al., 2015). Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that experiences of childhood maltreatment lead to enduring changes in both the activity, and particularly the reactivity, of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA); however, data on the exact developmental pathways of these alterations are rare (McCrory et al., 2010; Tarullo and Gunnar, 2006). The HPAA is one of the major stress response systems of the human body (Gunnar and Quevedo, 2007); HPAA activation causes the release of corticotro...
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 2, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Michael Kaess, Sarah Whittle, Laurie O ’Brien-Simpson, Nicholas B. Allen, Julian G. Simmons Source Type: research

Perinatal high fat diet induces early activation of endocrine stress responsivity and anxiety-like behavior in neonatal offspring
Worldwide, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity prevalence, including in women of reproductive age (Fisher et al., 2013). Maternal obesity predisposes offspring to metabolic and neuropsychological disorders later in life (Dearden and Ozanne, 2015; Rivera et al., 2015). The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the mediator of the endocrine stress response, is sensitive to environmental factors early in life and HPA programming is associated with anxiety behaviors later in life (McGowan and Matthews, 2017). (Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology)
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 2, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Sameera Abuaish, Richard L. Spinieli, Patrick O. McGowan Source Type: research

Aerobic exercise lengthens telomeres and reduces stress in family caregivers: A randomized controlled trial - Curt Richter Award Paper 2018
In the United States, the number of people aged 65 and over is expected to nearly double by 2050, from approximately 40 million (~14% of the population) in 2012 to greater than 80 million, or ~22% of the population (Ortman et al. 2014). These numbers are equally striking worldwide. Even though populations are ageing, older adults are not necessarily increasing their healthspan (i.e., years of maintained good health) (GBD 2015 DALYs and HALE Collaborators et al. 2016). Non-communicable, preventable diseases account for the majority of deaths in adults across the globe (Lozano et al. (Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology)
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 2, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Eli Puterman, Jordan Weiss, Jue Lin, Samantha Schilf, Aaron Slusher, Kirsten L. Johansen, Elissa S. Epel Source Type: research

COMMENTARY: Sex and an Eye Test
The paper by Strandqvist and colleagues on cognitive abilities in women with disorders of development ( DSD) reports a striking finding: sex chromosomes determine emotion recognition. How did they arrive at such a dramatic conclusion? They studied women with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome ( CAIS) who are XY and women with gonadal dysgenesis ( GD) with either XX or XY chromosomes. None were exposed in utero to androgens, either because of resistance to their action (CAIS) or from lack of androgen production (GD).Thus the effect of androgens on, for example, spatial ability well recognised to be sex dimorphic is re...
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 2, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Ieuan Hughes Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research

Environmental enrichment prevents acute restraint stress-induced anxiety-related behavior but not changes in basolateral amygdala spine density
Either acute restraint stress (2  h) or systemic injection of corticosterone (CORT, a rodent GC) in rats leads to anxiety-like behavior and dendritic branches remodeling in the BLA 10- 12 days later (Mitra et al., 2005; Mitra and Sapolsky, 2008). In a previous study, we found that exposure to EE prevented anxiety-related behavior in adult rats observed immediately after acute restraint stress, but it is not yet known whether EE affects the persistent effects of acute stress (Novaes et al., 2017). (Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology)
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 1, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Leonardo Santana Novaes, Nilton Barreto dos Santos, Juliano Genaro Perfetto, Ki Ann Goosens, Carolina Demarchi Munhoz Tags: Short Communication Source Type: research

Molecular basis of Gender Dysphoria: androgen and estrogen receptor interaction
Transsexualism in ICD-10 (World Health Organization, 1993), Gender Identity Disorder in DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), Gender Dysphoria in DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) or Gender Incongruence in ICD-11 (World Health Organization, 2018) are characterized by a marked incongruence between one ´s experienced gender and biological sex (World Health Organization, 1993). Transsexuals are individuals who seek, or have undergone, a social transition from male-to-female (MtF) or female-to-male (FtM) that in many, but not all cases involves a somatic transition through cross-sex hormone treatme ...
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 1, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Rosa Fern ández, Antonio Guillamón, Joselyn Cortés-Cortés, Esther Gómez-Gil, Amalia Jácome, Isabel Esteva, MariCruz Almaraz, Mireia Mora, Gloria Aranda, Eduardo Pásaro Source Type: research

Letter to the editor: Sex and the Eye test
We read professor Hughes commentary on our manuscript “Cognitive abilities in women with complete androgen insensitivity or gonadal dysgenesis” with great interest. He acknowledges that we, quite unexpectedly, found that on a test of emotion recognition (the eye test) women with either androgen insensitivity or gonadal dysgenesis, both groups havin g XY chromosomes and lacking early androgen effects, performed inferior to women in the control group that we assume have 46,XX karyotype. In addition, they performed inferior to a small group of women with XX gonadal dysgenesis, lacking early androgen and oestrogen effects....
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 1, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Anna Strandqvist, Agneta Herlitz, Agneta Nordenskj öld, Lisa Örtqvist, Louise Frisén, Angelica Lindén Hirschberg, Anna Nordenström Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research

Targeted sensory enrichment interventions protect against behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of early life stress
In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), preterm infants undergo stressful and often painful procedures (Brummelte et al., 2012; Campbell-Yeo et al., 2014) and are at a heightened risk of acquiring nosocomial or other types of infections (Hornik et al., 2012; Stoll et al., 2004, 2010). In combination with parental separation, early life stressors such as these are associated with permanent alterations in neurobiological, hormonal, and adverse behavioral outcomes (see Mooney-Leber and Brummelte, 2017; Rand et al., 2016). (Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology)
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - July 30, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Amanda C. Kentner, Stephanie Scalia, Junyoung Shin, Mattia M. Migliore, Alejandro N. Rond ón-Ortiz Source Type: research

Effects of acute olanzapine exposure on central insulin-mediated regulation of whole body fuel selection and feeding
The use of antipsychotics (APs) is increasing at an alarming rate, owing to expanding on- and off-label uses in adults and children (Pringsheim and Gardner, 2014). This is concerning due to the severe metabolic side effects associated with chronic and acute AP-use. In addition to the increased propensity for weight gain and related comorbidities (Bergman and Ader, 2005), acute AP-exposure is associated with rapid, unmatched fuel repartitioning (Klingerman et al., 2014). Specifically, treatment with the AP olanzapine has been shown to increase hepatic glucose output (Houseknecht et al., 2007) and decrease adipose tissue lip...
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - July 30, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Laura N. Castellani, Jennifer Wilken, Andrew Abela, Louise Benarroch, Zohra Ahasan, Celine Teo, Virginia Wilson, Chantel Kowalchuk, Adria Giacca, Gary J. Remington, Margaret K. Hahn Tags: Short Communication Source Type: research

Targeted sensory enrichment therapy is protective against behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of early life stress
In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), preterm infants undergo stressful and often painful procedures (Brummelte et al., 2012) and are at a heightened risk of acquiring nosocomial or other types of infections (Hornik et al., 2012; Stoll et al., 2004; Stoll et al., 2010). In combination with parental separation, early life stressors such as these are associated with permanent alterations in neurobiological, hormonal, and adverse behavioral outcomes (see Mooney-Leber& Brummelte, 2017; Rand et al., 2016). (Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology)
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - July 30, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Amanda. C Kentner, Stephanie Scalia, Junyoung Shin, Mattia M. Migliore, Alejandro. N. Rond ón-Ortiz Source Type: research

No compelling evidence that more physically attractive young adult women have higher estradiol or progesterone
Many researchers have hypothesized that human attractiveness judgments are psychological adaptations for identifying high-quality mates (Grammer et al., 2003; Little et al., 2011; Thornhill and Gangestad, 1999). Researchers have also hypothesized that fertility, as indexed by high levels of estradiol and/or progesterone, is a particularly important aspect of women's mate quality (Grammer et al., 2003; Little et al., 2011; Thornhill and Gangestad, 1999). Although this proposal has become very influential in the human attractiveness and mate choice literatures, evidence that more physically attractive women have higher estra...
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - July 26, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Benedict C. Jones, Amanda C. Hahn, Claire I. Fisher, Hongyi Wang, Michal Kandrik, Junpeng Lao, Chengyang Han, Anthony J. Lee, Iris J. Holzleitner, Lisa M. DeBruine Source Type: research

The Role of Co-Rumination and Adrenocortical Attunement in Young Women ’s Close Friendships
Same sex close friends serve as essential sources of social support, particularly for females (Byrd-Craven& Geary, 2013). These friendships are typically characterized by dyadic self-disclosure, empathy, and high validation and support (Parker& Asher, 1993). The give and take within the relationship is highly monitored, with a greater fragility of the relationship resulting from lack of equity (Benenson& Christakos, 2003). The female-typical cognitive style of internalization of distress, rumination, and focus on relationship dynamics (Lewinsohn et al., 1997), provide an avenue to achieve intimacy by discussing stressful e...
Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - July 26, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Ashley Rankin, CaSandra Swearingen-Stanborough, Douglas A. Granger, Jennifer Byrd-Craven Source Type: research