http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Stress wreaks havoc on the mind and body. For example, psychological stress is associated with greater risk for depression, heart disease and infectious diseases. But, until now, it has not been clear exactly how stress influences disease and health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-stress-disease-reveals-inflammation-culprit.html Immunology Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:00:09 EST news252585261 (Medical Xpress) -- Immunity experts at the University of Birmingham have found biological evidence to suggest that bereavement lowers physical immunity, putting older people at risk of life-threatening infections.. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-die-broken-heart-bereavement-weaken.html Immunology Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:46:57 EST news252135993 Research by Columbia Business School's Modupe Akinola, Assistant Professor, Management, and Wendy Berry Mendes, Associate Professor, Sarlo/Ekman Endowed Chair of Emotion, University of California San Francisco in Behavioral Neuroscience examines how increases in cortisol, brought on by an acute social stressor, can influence threat-related decision making. The researchers studied a group of police officers completing a standardized laboratory stressor and then afterwards the group completed a computer simulated threat-related decision making task designed to examine accuracy in decisions to shoot or not shoot armed and unarmed black and white targets. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-stress-induced-cortisol-threat-related-decision-police.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:07:40 EST news251550381 A new investigational drug significantly reduced urinary cortisol levels and improved symptoms of Cushing's disease in the largest clinical study of this endocrine disorder ever conducted. Results of the clinical trial conducted at centers on four continents appear in the March 8 New England Journal of Medicine and show that treatment with pasireotide cut cortisol secretion an average of 50 percent and returned some patient's levels to normal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-experimental-drug-cortisol-symptoms-cushing.html Medical research Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:00:04 EST news250359314 Stress has numerous detrimental effects on the human body. Many of these effects are acutely felt by the sufferer, but many more go 'unseen', one of which is shortening of telomere length. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-depression-contribute-aging.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:23:20 EST news249045788 (Medical Xpress) -- While pregnant, women pay particular attention to factors such as diet and exercise to ensure their babies are born healthy and develop normally. New research from the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine suggests another factor women should pay particular attention to while pregnant−their mood. The findings were published in this month’s issue of Psychoneuroendocrinology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-stress-hormones-fluctuate-mood-pregnancy.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:00:01 EST news248077743 "Stand by me" is a common refrain when it comes to friendship but new research from Concordia University proves that the concept goes beyond pop music: keeping friends close has real physiological and psychological benefits. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-friends-negating-negativity.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:52:59 EST news246801172 The personality trait narcissism may have an especially negative effect on the health of men, according to a recent study published in PLoS ONE. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-expensive-egos-narcissism-higher-health.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:00:01 EST news246555420 Participation in horticultural activities can improve confidence and social skills, cultivate a positive attitude, and rejuvenate the mind and body. Many studies have emphasized the effects of horticultural activities in relation to physical and psychological rehabilitation, but few have considered the influence of these types of activities on mentally challenged people's autonomic nervous system (ANS) and on the stress hormone cortisol. A new study examined how activities such as pressing flowers, planting, creating flower arrangements, and making topiaries affect stress relief for patients who are mentally challenged. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-heart-stress-mentally-adults.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:20:01 EST news242912973 (Medical Xpress) -- Police academy recruits who showed the greatest rise in the stress hormone cortisol after waking up in the morning were more likely to show acute stress symptoms in response to trauma years later as police officers, according to a study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, the University of California, San Francisco and New York University Langone Medical Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-stress-response-predictor-police-officers.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:39:54 EST news242624361 (Medical Xpress) -- A new study indicates that many humans might be “self-medicating” when faced with chronic stress, by eating more comfort foods containing sugar and fat. In the long term, the habit may dampen down the body’s stress response, governed by the hormone cortisol, according to UCSF researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-comfort-food-self-medication-stress-dialing.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:50:02 EST news242551619 Cortisol may be the Swiss Army knife of hormones in the human body -- just when scientists think they understand what it does, another function pops up. While many of these functions are understood for adults, much less is known about how cortisol operates in babies and toddlers, especially when it comes to an important phenomenon called the cortisol awakening response, or CAR. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-important-hormone.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:40:02 EST news241972027 Stress-related disorders are often linked to people working in the line of fire. In a study led by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center in collaboration with the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, police recruits were assessed during academy training before critical incident exposure and provided salivary cortisol at first awakening and after 30 minutes. Police academy recruits who showed the greatest rise in the stress hormone cortisol after waking up were more likely to show acute stress symptoms in response to trauma years later as police officers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-stress-response-predictor-police-officers.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:17:35 EST news241795045 When a person with mild cognitive impairment is agitated or restless, caregivers can expect to find they are more edgy as well. According to research conducted at Virginia Tech, the more a caregiver's day is disrupted by the unsettled behaviors of their loved one, the more they find themselves unable to meet or balance their own home and family work loads. This heightens the effect of elevated stress levels on their own bodies, placing caregivers at risk for current and future health problems. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-caregivers-health-problems.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:15:48 EST news241712136 Social rejection can cause stress in preschoolers, adolescents, and adults. But what happens in middle childhood, a time when peer rejection can be particularly stressful and friendships are key? A new study has found that friendships serve as a buffer against the negative effects of classmates' rejection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-friendship-difference-stress.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:27:23 EST news238814832 A recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) found that shift work at a young age is associated with elevated long-term cortisol levels and increased BMI. Previous studies have shown that long-term elevated cortisol levels lead to increased abdominal obesity, hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular risk. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-stress-hormones-cardiovascular-shift-workers.html Health Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:20:30 EST news236848814 As the United States nears another election day, researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have determined scientifically, for the first time, that voting is a stressful event, inducing measurable hormonal changes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-voting-stress.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:20:26 EST news235225198 A new study by York University researchers finds that practicing yoga reduces the physical and psychological symptoms of chronic pain in women with fibromyalgia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-yoga-boosts-stress-busting-hormone-pain.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:40:03 EST news230991979 Nature sees to it that we do not have "too much choler" (bile) in our body. A delicately equilibrated regulation system ensures that there is always exactly the right amount of bile in the gallbladder. When we are hungry, our body releases a hormone called cortisol, which is a glucocorticoid. Hepatic cells receive this hormone signal through their cortisol receptors (glucocorticoid receptors) and respond by filling the gallbladder with bile in preparation of the imminent food intake. Directly upon eating a meal, bile is secreted into the intestine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-cortisol-recycling-bile-acids.html Medical research Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:36:11 EST news229257363 In the longest running U.S. study of premature infants who are now 23 years old, University of Rhode Island Professor of Nursing Mary C. Sullivan has found that premature infants are less healthy, have more social and school struggles and face a greater risk of heart-health problems in adulthood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-uri-nursing-effects-premature-birth.html Health Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:38:00 EST news227378258 Children whose mother or father is affected by bipolar disorder may need to keep their stress levels in check. A new international study, led by Concordia University, suggests the stress hormone cortisol is a key player in the mood disorder. The findings published in Psychological Medicine, are the first to show that cortisol is elevated more readily in these children in response to the stressors of normal everyday life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-mom-dad-bipolar-disorder-stress.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 05 May 2011 10:53:05 EST news223811557