Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Explaining The Longitudinal Association Between Puberty And Depression: Sex Differences In The Mediating Effects Of Peer Stress, Colleen Conley, Karen Rudolph, Fred Bryant

Colleen S. Conley

This research investigated whether exposure to peer stress serves as one pathway through which pubertal development contributes to depression over time, differentially for girls and boys. Youth (N = 149; 9.6–14.8 years) and their caregivers provided information at two waves, 1 year apart, on puberty (Wave 1), peer stress (occurring between Waves 1 and 2), and depression (Waves 1 and 2). Structural equation modeling analyses examined sex differences in the extent to which peer stress mediated the impact of pubertal status and timing on subsequent depression (i.e., tests of moderated mediation). Significant sex-moderated mediation was found for both pubertal status …

The Effects Of Home-Based Pilates In Healthy College-Age Females, Betsy Donahoe-Fillmore, Mary Fisher, C. Brahler

C. Jayne Brahler

Objectives: To quantify and determine the effects of Pilates on core endurance, hamstring flexibility, balance, body composition/mass and perceived stress level in healthy college age females.

Study Design: Randomized controlled trial design.

Background: Emerging research on the Pilates technique is inconclusive regarding benefits to core endurance, flexibility, balance, body mass, and perceived stress.

Methods and Measures: Female college students (n=57; 18-35 years old) were randomly assigned to a Pilates group, who exercised at home with a DVD, or a control group who did not engage in Pilates practice. Core endurance, hamstring flexibility, balance, body composition and stress measurements were taken …

Explaining The Longitudinal Association Between Puberty And Depression: Sex Differences In The Mediating Effects Of Peer Stress, Colleen Conley, Karen Rudolph, Fred Bryant

Fred B. Bryant

This research investigated whether exposure to peer stress serves as one pathway through which pubertal development contributes to depression over time, differentially for girls and boys. Youth (N = 149; 9.6–14.8 years) and their caregivers provided information at two waves, 1 year apart, on puberty (Wave 1), peer stress (occurring between Waves 1 and 2), and depression (Waves 1 and 2). Structural equation modeling analyses examined sex differences in the extent to which peer stress mediated the impact of pubertal status and timing on subsequent depression (i.e., tests of moderated mediation). Significant sex-moderated mediation was found for both pubertal status …

Coping Styles, Opioid Blockade, And Cardiovascular Response To Stress, Stephen Bruehl, James Mccubbin, John Wilson, Thomas Montgomery, Paloma Ibarra, Charles Carlson

James A. McCubbin

We investigated the hypothesis that the effects of Monitoring and Blunting coping styles are mediated in part by endogenous opioids. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were measured in 39 males before, during, and after a mental arithmetic stressor. Each subject experienced the protocol once under opioid blockade (naltrexone) and once in a placebo condition, in counterbalanced order. Monitoring and Blunting were assessed using the Miller Behavioral Style Scale. High Blunting and high Monitoring were both associated with poorer MAP recovery under opioid blockade than in the placebo condition. Similar effects were noted for Blunting on the measure …

Relaxation Training And Opioid Inhibition Of Blood Pressure Response To Stress, James Mccubbin, John Wilson, Stephen Bruehl, Paloma Ibarra, Charles Carlson, Jane Norton, George Colclough

James A. McCubbin

The present study was designed to determine the role of endogenous opioid mechanisms in the circulatory effects of relaxation training. Opioid mechanisms were assessed by examination of the effects of opioid receptor blockade with naltrexone on acute cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stress before and after relaxation training. 32 young men with mildly elevated casual arterial pressure were recruited for placebo-controlled naltrexone stress tests and relaxation training. The results indicated that relaxation training significantly reduced the diastolic pressure response to mental arithmetic stress. Opioid receptor blockade with naltrexone antagonized the effects of relaxation training. These findings suggest that some of the …

Emotional Dampening In Persons With Elevated Blood Pressure: Affect Dysregulation And Risk For Hypertension, James Mccubbin, J Loveless, J Graham, D Moore, G Hall, R Bart, M Merritt, R Lane, J Thayer

James A. McCubbin

Background Persons with higher blood pressure have emotional dampening in some contexts. This may reflect interactive changes in central nervous system control of affect and autonomic function in the early stages of hypertension development. Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the independence of cardiovascular emotional dampening from alexithymia to better understand the role of affect dysregulation in blood pressure elevations. Methods Ninety-six normotensives were assessed for resting systolic and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, recognition of emotions in faces and sentences using the Perception of Affect Task (PAT), alexithymia, anxiety, and defensiveness. Results Resting DBP significantly predicted PAT …

Effects Of Stretch-Based Progressive Relaxation Training On The Secretion Of Salivary Immunoglobulin A In Orofacial Pain Patients, Jeffrey Sherman, Charles Carlson, James Mccubbin, John Wilson

James A. McCubbin

There is a growing body of evidence that psychologic stressors can affect physical health and proneness to disease through depletion of the body's immune system. Relatively little research, however, has investigated the potential immunoenhancing effect of stress-relieving strategies such as progressive muscle relaxation. This study explored the relationship between immune functioning and relaxation training with persons experiencing persistent facial pain. In a single experimental session, 21 subjects either received relaxation training or rested for an equivalent time period. Salivary immunoglobulin A, mood, pain, and tension levels were measured before and after relaxation and rest periods. Results indicated that a greater …

Which Stressors Are Associated With Which Forms Of Depression In A Homogenous Sample? An Analysis Of The Effects Of Lifestyle Changes And Demands On Five Subtypes Of Depression, Vicki Bitsika, Christopher Sharpley

Vicki Bitsika

Background: Although depression is often considered as a single or unitary construct, evidence indicates the existence of several major subtypes of depression, some of which have distinct neurobiological bases and treatment options. Objective: To explore the incidence of five subtypes of depression, and to identify which lifestyle changes and stressor demands are associated with each of five established subtypes of depression, within a homogenous non-clinical sample. Method: 398 Australian university students completed the Effects of University Study on Lifestyle Questionnaire to identify their major stressors, plus the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale to measure their symptomatology. Regression analysis was used to …

Lifting Without Seeing: The Role Of Vision In Perceiving And Acting Upon The Size Weight Illusion, Gavin Buckingham, Melvyn Goodale

Gavin Buckingham

BACKGROUND: Our expectations of an object's heaviness not only drive our fingertip forces, but also our perception of heaviness. This effect is highlighted by the classic size-weight illusion (SWI), where different-sized objects of identical mass feel different weights. Here, we examined whether these expectations are sufficient to induce the SWI in a single wooden cube when lifted without visual feedback, by varying the size of the object seen prior to the lift.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Participants, who believed that they were lifting the same object that they had just seen, reported that the weight of the single, standard-sized cube that they …

Modulation Of Ischaemic Contracture In Mouse Hearts: A 'Supraphysiological' Response To Adenosine, Melissa Reichelt, Laura Willems, Jason Peart, Kevin Ashton, G Matherne, Michael Blackburn, John Headrick

Kevin Ashton

While inhibition of ischaemic contracture was one of the first documented cardioprotective actions of exogenously applied adenosine, it is not known whether this is a normal function of endogenous adenosine generated during ischaemic stress. Additionally, the relevance of delayed contracture to postischaemic outcome is unclear. We tested the ability of endogenous versus exogenous adenosine to modify contracture (and postischaemic outcomes) in C57/Bl6 mouse hearts. During ischaemia, untreated hearts developed peak contracture (PC) of 85 ± 5 mmHg at 8.9 ± 0.8 min, with time to reach 20 mmHg (time to onset of contracture; TOC) of 4.4 ± 0.3 min. Adenosine …