Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 
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This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.Elucidating the mechanisms of psychosocial influences on cancer using preclinical in vivo models
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Erica K Sloan, Adam K WalkerThe impact of psychosocial factors on cancer is established from clinical studies. These findings offer novel points of intervention to improve patient wellbeing and survival using both behavioral and pharmacologic strategies. Pre-clinical in vivo models of cancer have been essential tools for defining a mechanistic understanding of how psychosocial factors impact cancer. Their use has allowed discovery and characterization of bi-directional signalling pathways that transmit information between the b...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - April 6, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Early life inflammation — it sticks to the brain
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Quentin J Pittman, Carlos D Gómez, Justin Read, Megan L Lewis, Shaona AcharjeeSickness is common in human babies, but relatively rare in lab rodents. When specified pathogen-free mice or rats are exposed to systemic inflammation within an early life time window, there are long-term changes in the brain and behavior that persist into adulthood. Molecules such as TNFα and IL-1β that are transiently expressed in the brain after an early life inflammatory episode interact with the changing neuronal and glial environment during e...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - April 6, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Early adversity and the regulation of gene expression: implications for prenatal health
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Shannon L Gillespie, Steve W Cole, Lisa M ChristianEarly life, including prenatal development and childhood, is a period of sensitivity, with potential for developmental programming under conditions of adversity. The intergenerational effects of early adversity have received attention, most often studied in relation to fetal development according to maternal exposures. Less often considered but critically important is the effect of early adversity on future prenatal risk (e.g. risk for preeclampsia, preterm birth), which threat...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 31, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Stress, depression, diet, and the gut microbiota: human–bacteria interactions at the core of psychoneuroimmunology and nutrition
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Annelise Madison, Janice K Kiecolt-GlaserHumans and their gut bacteria have evolved multiple ways to communicate with and regulate one another. Psychological stress and depression can promote consumption of highly palatable foods, influencing which gut bacteria thrive. Additionally, stress and depression can reshape the gut bacteria’s composition through stress hormones, inflammation, and autonomic alterations. In turn, the gut bacteria release metabolites, toxins, and neurohormones that can alter eating behavior and mood. So...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 26, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Neuroimmune modulation of pain across the developmental spectrum
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Bianka Karshikoff, Melissa Anne Tadros, Sean Mackey, Ihssane ZouikrToday’s treatment for chronic pain is inadequate, and novel targets need to be identified. This requires a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in pain sensitization and chronification. In this review, we discuss how peripheral inflammation, as occurs during an infection, modulates the central pain system. In rodents, neonatal inflammation leads to increased pain sensitivity in adulthood by priming immune components both peripherally and centrally. ...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 20, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Caregiving alters immunity and stress hormones: a review of recent research
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Anna C Whittaker, Stephen GallagherOlder caregivers of dementia patients have been studied as a model of chronic stress influencing psychological and physical well-being and the function of the immune system. These immune decrements can relate to altered stress hormone levels, and caregivers show elevated or reduced cortisol compared to age-matched controls as well as dysregulation in other cortisol indices. Recently, this field has developed to examine a range of immune outcomes and cortisol measures in younger caregivers too,...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 16, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Voluntary wheel running: a useful rodent model for investigating mechanisms of stress robustness and exercise motivation
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Benjamin N Greenwood, Monika FleshnerDespite evidence that exercise reduces the negative impacts of stressor exposure and promotes stress robustness, health and well-being, most people fail to achieve recommended levels of physical activity. One reason for this failure could be our fundamental lack of understanding the brain motivational and motor circuits underlying voluntary exercise behavior. Wheel running is an animal model used to reveal mechanisms of exercise-induced stress robustness. Here, we detail the strengths and we...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 14, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Distributed semantic representations for modeling human judgment
Publication date: October 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 29Author(s): Sudeep Bhatia, Russell Richie, Wanling ZouPeople make judgments about thousands of different objects and concepts on a day-to-day basis; however, capturing the knowledge that subserves these judgments has been difficult. Recent advances in computational linguistics are filling this gap, as the statistics of language use yield rich, distributed semantic representations for natural objects and concepts. These representations have been shown to predict semantic and linguistic judgments, such as judgments of meaning and relatednes...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 14, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Gut microbes and behavior
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Joanna Turkiewicz, Hyo Jin Ryu, Emeran A MayerAlterations in the interactions between the gut microbiome, its metabolites, and the brain have been implicated in numerous brain disorders, including developmental disorders, disorders of mood and affect, neurodegenerative disorders, autoimmune conditions, eating disorders and functional gastrointestinal disorders. The specific components of brain gut microbiome disorders include disturbances of the microbial community and metabolite production, altered bidirectional signaling from...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 10, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Salivary biomarkers in psychoneuroimmunology
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Christopher G Engeland, Jos A Bosch, Nicolas RohlederAs molecular biology advances, an increasing number of proteins are becoming detectable at very low levels in different biological tissues. In this regard, saliva holds vast promise. Unlike blood, saliva can be sampled 1) non-invasively; 2) across all ages (newborn to elderly); 3) in the field; 4) by study participants; and 5) many times per day. With respect to psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), physiological measures of stress such as cortisol have been well characterized. Alpha ...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 7, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Stress, microbiota, and immunity
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Sharon L Hollins, Deborah M HodgsonConverging lines of evidence suggest that the relationship between the gut and the brain is a factor in the onset of psychopathology. The complexity of this relationship from development to adulthood, and its central roles in general health and wellbeing, are becoming increasingly appreciated. In particular, the composition of bacteria within the gut is now believed to have a key role in mental health. We outline recent literature on alterations in the gut microbiome in response to stress thro...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 6, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Factors affecting group creativity: lessons from musical ensembles
Publication date: Available online 2 March 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral SciencesAuthor(s): Matthew Slayton, Adam S Bristol, Indre V ViskontasUnderstanding creativity is of great interest to anyone who seeks to train, cultivate, or understand this complex human faculty. One phenomenon of continued interest is how groups of individuals effectively engage in acts of creativity. We outline key concepts in creative cognition in individuals, as these processes are the foundation, on which group dynamics act. Next, we focus our discussion on musical groups, such as jazz improvisers and classical chamber music ensembl...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 4, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Loneliness in monkeys: neuroimmune mechanisms
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): John P Capitanio, Stephanie Cacioppo, Steven W ColeLoneliness, or perceived social isolation, may be evident in any group-living species, although its assessment in nonhumans provides some measurement challenges. It is well-known that loneliness in humans confers significant risk for morbidity and mortality, although mechanisms remain unclear. The authors describe a naturally occurring model of loneliness in adult male rhesus monkeys that shows many parallels with the phenomenon in humans. Lonely monkeys (those that display hig...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - March 1, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Stress and immunological aging
This article provides a brief overview of immunological aging, describes key biological pathways acting at multiple lifespan stages linking stress and immunological aging, and reviews recent innovative work characterizing associations between stress in several domains and immunological aging, as well as potential protective and risk factors. Important directions for future research include careful characterizations of the complexities of stress and rigorous measurement of immunological aging processes. Advancing knowledge of stress resilience and healthy immune aging may ultimately slow disease onset and extend healthspan....
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - February 27, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The interplay among psychological distress, the immune system, and brain tumor patient outcomes
Publication date: August 2019Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 28Author(s): Sebastian Otto-Meyer, Jan Lumibao, Eugene Kim, Erik Ladomersky, Lijie Zhai, Kristen L Lauing, Denise M Scholtens, Frank Penedo, Christina Amidei, Rimas V Lukas, Derek A WainwrightA malignant brain tumor diagnosis is often accompanied by intense feelings and can be associated with psychosocial conditions including depression, anxiety, and increased distress levels. Previous work has highlighted the impact of uncontrolled psychological distress among brain tumor patients. Given the negative impact of maladaptive psychosocial and ...
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - February 27, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
